


Graduation

by MangoQueen



Series: Ever After Gays [2]
Category: Ever After High
Genre: F/F, How Do I Tag, i can’t tag things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27684766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MangoQueen/pseuds/MangoQueen
Summary: The Ever After Gays finally graduate from Ever After High! Their parents come to the school for Parent’s Week (a concept I totally pulled out of nowhere) and chaotic shit happens.
Relationships: Briar Beauty/Faybelle Thorn, C.A. Cupid/Blondie Lockes, Daring Charming/Cerise Hood, Darling Charming/Apple White, Justine Dancer/Melody Piper, Kitty Cheshire/Madeline "Maddie" Hatter/Lizzie Hearts, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poppy O'Hair/Duchess Swan, Ramoma Badwolf/Rosabella Beauty, Raven Queen/Dexter Charming
Series: Ever After Gays [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024470
Comments: 10
Kudos: 68





	1. Final Exams

**Author's Note:**

> We begin with a ton of songs and an assignment to be as gay as possible...

"Ladies, don't leave quite yet!" The White Queen said as the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. The girls all groaned, but dropped back into their seats nevertheless. And if Darling did ever so discreetly flip the teacher off as she did so, nobody needs to know. 

"I promise you this will only take a minute of your time," the woman at the front continued. "As you know, graduation is in about two weeks, give or take a few days. It's time for your final. I warn you, it won't be easy. As you know, when your prince comes for you, he may not like you. Perhaps it's based on personal biases, or he just never saw you that way at school. Whatever the reason, you'll have to charm him.

"The best way to charm someone, is of course, with a song. Now, we're not just doing any musical exercise. This is a final, after all. So, I want everyone to come up here and take a hair clip and a remote." The White Queen placed a box onto her desk. Inside were crown shaped hair clips in all sorts of colors with small, white boxes held to the clips by a piece of tape. Each box had a button on it, small enough to be hidden. All the clips had a black pearl on them. The girls in class went up slowly and took the items before returning to their seats. 

"These hair clips have cameras in them. The pearls are the cameras, actually. The button turns the camera portion on and off. You all have two days to find a girl in the school who does not know about the assignment and sing to her a love song. After all, if you can use your voice to even semi-charm a girl, you'll have no problem with boys. We will be uploading them in class on Monday. Class dismissed!" 

"Can you believe this? Why a girl?" Holly grumped as she walked out. 

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad," Poppy tried to say. Of course, she was biased, considering she already had a girlfriend who wasn't in Princessology who she could sing to. 

"Really?" Holly asked. "Why won't it be "that bad"? We need to basically get a girl to fall in love with us." 

"Not fall in love!" Poppy said defensively. "Just... almost fall in love." 

"Why do I even have to take this class in the first place?" Darling muttered to Rosabella. "I think it's pretty clear from the Evil Queen incident that I'm supposed to rescue Apple. Being a proper process won't help me with that!" 

"Keep your voice down!" Rosabella whispered. "Do you really want to get expelled two weeks before graduation? And I don't get it, either. I'm supposed to be the hero of my story. I don't need to "charm" anyone. And I'm not ever going to follow my destiny. My destined prince doesn't even like me in that way, plus, you know..." her voice trailed off as she looked around and saw that they were in the locker halls. She nodded her head in the direction of Ramona Badwolf, along with about 8 other students.

"Well, gee, must be fun having your girlfriend not be in the class," Darling whispered sharply. 

~time skip to Tuesday because I'm lazy af ✌️~

"Now girls, most of you did average on the assignment. However, two videos stuck out to me as being... well... awful," White Queen said. "We aware going to watch those two first. I apologize to both girls who these belong to." She turned the projector on. 

The door to Briar and Faybelle's room opened. Briar's voice began singing 

"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums  
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone  
So while you're here in my arms  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young  
We're gonna die young  
We're gonna die young"

"And you're singing at me... why?" Faybelle asked.

"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

"Young hearts, out our minds  
Runnin' till we outta time  
Wild childs, lookin' good  
Livin' hard just like we should  
Don't care whose watching when we tearing it up (you know)

That magic that we got nobody can touch (for sure)  
Looking for some trouble tonight (yeah)  
Take my hand, I'll show you the wild side"

Briar stuck her hand out. Faybelle started at her blankly. 

"Like it's the last night of our lives (uh huh)  
We'll keep dancing till we die"

"Oh my god, you're an idiot," Faybelle said, laughing.

"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums  
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone  
So while you're here in my arms  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young  
We're gonna die young  
We're gonna die young  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young"

Faybelle burried her face in her hands. She was laughing louder now.

"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die  
Young hunks, taking shots  
Stripping down to dirty socks  
Music up, gettin' hot  
Kiss me, give me all you've got"

"Did you really sing that to Faybelle?!" Holly asked. 

"It's pretty obvious that you've got a crush (you know)  
That magic in your pants, it's making me blush (for sure)"

"Oh my godmother!" Holly said. Her face was bright red watching the video. Next to her, Poppy was dying laughing. This was ammunition to use against Briar next time she decided to point out a spelling error she'd made in the group chat. 

Faybelle's laughter turned to hyena cackles. 

"Looking for some trouble tonight (yeah)  
Take my hand I'll show you the wild side

Briar stuck out her hand again. This time, Faybelle took it, face a darker blue than usual from laughing so much. 

"Like it's the last night of our lives (uh huh)  
We'll keep dancing till we die (till we die)  
I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums  
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone  
So while you're here in my arms,"

Briar twirled Faybelle. 

"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young  
I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums  
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone  
So while you're here in my arms  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young

"We're gonna die young  
We're gonna die young  
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young"

Faybelle had her face buried in Briar's chest now, she was laughing so much. 

"I can't believe you did that..." Rosabella said, shaking with laughter. "It was pretty bad." 

"Shut it, cuz," Briar said. "I can almost guarantee yours is also gonna suck." 

"That was obvious why was wrong with it," White Queen said. "Now... the second worst one." 

This time, the person was already in the room, which belonged to Apple and Raven. Shockingly, it was Apple who started singing. 

"Heart beats fast  
Colors and promises  
How to be brave  
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall"

"Can you please stop singing?" Raven asked, annoyed. "I'm trying to do homework here." 

Apple did not stop. 

"But watching you stand alone  
All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow  
One step closer  
I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more"

"Seriously, how many times do I have to ask you to quit singing at random times?" Raven asked again, getting more annoyed. 

"Time stands still  
Beauty in all she is  
I will be brave  
I will not let anything, take away  
What's standing in front of me  
Every breath, every hour has come to this  
One step closer"

"Am I really the person you want to sing a love some to?" Raven asked. "I'm being serious right now, stop." 

"I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more"

Kitty appeared out of nowhere. 

"Why are you here?" Raven asked. 

"And all along I believed, I would find you  
Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more"

"I'm looking for Maddie. Have you seen her?" Kitty asked. 

"No," Raven said. "Now leave." 

One step closer  
One step closer  
I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years

"I don't believe you," Kitty said. "She's here, isn't she?" 

"Why would she be here?!" Raven yelled. 

"I'll love you for a thousand more  
And all along I believed, I would find you"

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Lizzie either since breakfast," Kitty said. "Is she here with Maddie?" 

"Maddie is not here!!" Raven screamed now, glowing purple. 

"Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more" 

"Have you looked for either of them in Lizzie's dorm?" Apple asked quickly, ending her last note hurriedly. 

"Oh, yeah!" Kitty said. "Great idea, Apple!" She smiled innocently and disappeared. 

"Now, those two were obviously the worst," White Queen said. "No question. There were two that were also the best. Firstly..." she turned the projector on once more. 

Maddie and Kitty sat on Maddie's bed in their dorm. Lizzie started singing. 

"Flashing lights and we, took a wrong turn and we  
Fell down the rabbit hole  
You held on tight to me  
'Cause nothing's as it seems  
Spinning out of control

"Didn't they tell us don't rush into things  
Didn't you flash your blue eyes at me  
Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds  
Ooh didn't it all seem new and exciting  
I felt your arms twisting around me  
I should've slept with one eye opened at night

Both girls' smiles grew. Maddie stared at Lizzie with complete adoration. 

"We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it  
And we pretended it could last forever, eh  
We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it  
And life was never worse but never better, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
In wonderland

"So we went on our way  
Too in love to think straight  
All alone or so it seemed  
But there were strangers watching  
And whispers turned to talking  
And talking turned to screams

"Didn't they tell us don't rush into things  
Didn't you flash your pretty eyes at me"

The camera zoomed in on Maddie. 

"Didn't you calm my fears with the cheshire cat's smile" 

Now it zoomed in on Kitty. She also had a look or adoration. It was more obvious now. 

"Ooh didn't it all seem new and exciting  
I felt your arms twisting around me  
It's all fun and games, still somebody loses their mind

"Oh darling, we found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it  
And we pretended it could last forever, eh  
We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it  
And life was never worse but never better, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
In wonderland, eh  
(In won-) In wonderland

"I reach for you  
But you were gone"

Kitty put her head on Lizzie's shoulder, nuzzling her head into the girl's neck. 

I knew I had to go back home  
You searched the world for something else  
To make you feel like what we had  
And in the end in wonderland we all went mad

Now it was Maddie's turn to put her head on Lizzie's other shoulder, absently playing with a piece of hair in front of her face. 

"Oh, we found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it  
And we pretended it could last forever, eh (Last forever)  
We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it (Got lost in it)  
And life was never worse but never better, eh (Never better)

"We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it (Wonderland)  
And we pretended it could last forever, eh (In wonderland)  
We found wonderland  
You and I got lost in it (Wonderland)  
And life was never worse but never better  
In wonderland"

"Why do those three have to be so freaking adorable?" Apple whispered to Darling. 

"I don't know," Darling whispered back. "It's not fair." 

"Now, as Lizzie chose to do extra by trying to charm two girls, it wouldn't be fair to say that hers was the best. It was obviously going to be great, so long as she managed to do it properly. So... the other best one was..." White Queen said. She turned the projector on one last time. 

Duchess was sitting on her bed. Poppy's voice was the one singing. 

Poppy groaned and put her head on her desk. This was gonna be fun to explain to her sister. 

"What would I do without your smart mouth  
Drawing me in, and you kicking me out  
Got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down"

"What are you doing...?" Duchess asked. 

"What's going on in that beautiful mind  
I'm on your magical mystery ride  
And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright"

Duchess now had a smirk on her face. 

"My head's under water  
But I'm breathing fine  
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind"

The smirk turned to a small, sweet smile. 

"Cause all of me  
Loves all of you  
Love your curves and all your edges  
All your perfect imperfections"

"Why are you like this?" Duchess asked. The smile never left her face. 

Give your all to me  
I'll give my all to you  
You're my end and my beginning  
Even when I lose I'm winning  
'Cause I give you all, all of me  
And you give me all, all of you

"How many times do I have to tell you  
Even when you're crying you're beautiful too  
The world is beating you down, I'm around through every m ood  
You're my downfall, you're my muse  
My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues  
I can't stop singing, it's ringing, in my head for you"

Duchess's smile grew. She put her face in her hands. A very obvious blush had crept onto her face. 

"My head's under water  
But I'm breathing fine  
You're crazy and I'm out of my mind

"Cause all of me  
Loves all of you  
Love your curves and all your edges  
All your perfect imperfections  
Give your all to me  
I'll give my all to you  
You're my end and my beginning  
Even when I lose I'm winning"

Duchess looked up, still smiling and looking at Poppy with so much affection it would be obvious to even the most oblivious historians they were more than just friends. 

"Cause I give you all of me  
And you give me all, all of you  
Give me all of you

"Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts  
Risking it all, though it's hard

"Cause all of me  
Loves all of you  
Love your curves and all your edges  
All your perfect imperfections  
Give your all to me  
I'll give my all to you  
You're my end and my beginning  
Even when I lose I'm winning

"Cause I give you all of me  
And you give me all of you  
I give you all, all of me  
And you give me all, all of you" 

Poppy had barely stopped singing before Duchess lunged at her. 

"No question you're able to charm anyone with that voice, my dear!" White Queen said. Nobody else said anything, just stared at the purple-haired girl, stunned. The bell rang. Everyone grabbed their things and filed out.

Poppy groaned as she trailed behind her sister to their dorm. She was going to be in for a lot of questioning. Why did her girlfriend have to be so damn sappy sometimes?


	2. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My most cringe-worthy chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ye, so, quick thing, lemme explain the roommate situation. They are as follows: Apple and Raven, Kitty and Maddie, Lizzie and Bunny (not all that important I guess), Briar and Faybelle, Justine and Melody, Ramona and Cerise, Darling and Rosabella, Poppy and Holly, Duchess and Cedar, Blondie and Cupid. Anyone else is irrelevant to the story. Actually, some of this shit might be irrelevant. Idfk anymore. I did mention all of this in the chatfic though, pretty early on actually

The students prepared for their parents to arrive for Parents' Week. Two air mattresses were set up in each room for the students to sleep on while their famous parents were at school. 

"Huh, that's funny," Maddie told Kitty as the lavender- haired girl attempted to blow up the two air mattresses that would be in that room all week. 

"What?" Kitty asked, slightly annoyed at her girlfriend for not helping her. 

"I can't hear the narrator anymore!" Maddie folded her arms and plopped on the half-inflated air mattress, letting a good amount of air out of it. .

"Now that you mention it, neither can I." Kitty gave her a look before going back to inflating the makeshift bed from hell. 

They could no longer hear the narrator because this is a fanfiction, and as such, does not follow the rules of a normal story. Yes, yes, go ahead and patch up your precious 4th wall everyone. You're just wasting your time. As the narrator, I'm going to run it over with a bulldozer at some point later in this story. I just know it. 4th walls quiver before me! 

Anyway, Apple was nervous about Parents' Week. She knew that Snow White and the Good King would most likely arrive together, being family and all. She hoped that her mother and Raven could at least make it to the dorm before they exploded at each other. 

Not many people knew it, but the White family was... well, there's really no other word for it then dysfunctional. 

You see, the Evil Queen had wanted to infiltrate Snow White's home to better torture her rival. She ended up marrying Snow's father, the Good King, when she and Snow were 20. She had, of course, used a love potion on him. Their "romance" was short-lived, as not even the most powerful sorceress can create real love from a bottle, and not long after Raven was born, they divorced. 

Snow still hated the Evil Queen for what she had done. She tended to take it out on much younger half-sister, since her "stepmother" had long since been imprisoned in the mirror realm. Snow was also still mad at her father for marrying the woman who has thrice attempted to kill her in the first place. So yeah, any time Apple's mother and Raven's father for together, especially Raven herself was involved, things got messy. 

Apple was just glad her father wasn't going to be there. He took his hatred of the young sorceress a little too far a few years back. When Apple was 10, he had reportedly tried to kill the girl one day that summer with a frying pan. Snow had blown up at Raven over something minor, and she ran to the kitchen to calm herself down before her powers got out of control. Apple's father, seeing his beloved so angry, tried to help by following Raven into the kitchen. He grabbed the first thing he could find, which happened to be the pan in question, and flung it at her. Thankfully, Raven was on the other side of the kitchen, and it only hit her leg. When the cook saw what he had done, she called the police immediately and the young princess was rushed to the hospital. Apple hadn't seen her father since that day. 

Huh, is is bad that I laughed at that last paragraph? Anywhoozle, back to the story!

The blonde shuddered as she recalled that day. She had been traumatized hearing about it. She couldn't imagine what Raven had gone through actually experiencing it. 

"Apple, can you help me with this real quick?" Raven asked from across the room, head covered completely by a limp mattress. 

"Sure, just give me a second to finish with this one!" Apple called back, turning her attention back to the motorized pump. She turned it on, then want and grabbed the air mattress off her roommate's head, revealing a snarled rat's nest of hair that obscured half of her face. 

"I'll get this," Apple told her. "You go brush your hair." 

"I'd rather deal with the mattress," Raven grumbled as she walked into the bathroom, hairbrush in hand. 

"There's a bottle of detangling hairspray on my dresser you can use," Apple called to her aunt. Yes, through awkward circumstances and a quadruple dose of oddly good quality love potion, Raven was technically her aunt. She didn't like to think about it.

~⭐️this line break is named Zoë ⭐️~

"Where are you going?" Darling asked Rosabella as a she tried to leave their dorm.

"I'm going to meet Ramona one more time before our parents get here," Rosabella said, opening the door. 

"Well I'm not setting up your air mattress." Darling flopped on her bed and pulled her phone out. She was most likely texting Apple. 

Rosabella just stuck her tongue out at the knight before closing the door and heading into the Enchanted Forest. 

Rosabella got to the clearing where the girls had met so many times before to avoid detection, and saw Ramona Badwolf standing there. She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face as she picked up the pace a little bit. 

Ramona pulled Rosabella in and kissed her deeply. Rosabella, of course, melted into it. 

When they pulled away, Rosabella looked around for a second and face palmed. 

"What?" Ramona asked her girlfriend. 

"We don't have food. It's lunch time," Rosabella said. Ramona was about to respond when she heard someone coming. 

"Hide," she whispered sharply, pulling her girlfriend into a bush. 

They watched through the leaves, still as statues, as Cerise Hood came running into the clearing. She paced there for a second before pulling her phone out. 

She looked up for a second and looked around, acting like she was taking a deep breath but really trying to subtly sniff the air, before returning to her phone. 

A minute later, Daring Charming walked into the clearing. 

"Cerise," he said. "I got your message. What happened?" 

"Nothing happened," Cerise said, pulling the prince in and hugging him. "I just need to tell you something before Parents' Week starts."

"Sure, what is it?" He took both of her hands into his. 

"Okay, so it's about my parents..." she began. "I want you to meet them sometime this week if you're comfortable with that obviously, but there's something you need to know first." She stopped and took a deep breath, then almost gagged. 

"Ramona and I'm guessing Rosabella, get out of that bush," she said, facing the exact spot where the girls were hiding. They both stood up, Rosabella's face colored a light shade of pink. 

"How did you know we were in there?" Ramona asked her sister. 

"I've known from the start, I just couldn't stand the smell of blood and roses anymore." Cerise wrinkled her nose in a way that Daring thought was really cute (not that he would admit it in front of two other people). 

"For the last time, I do not smell like blood!" Ramona growled. 

"You kind of do..." Rosabella said, trying to hide behind Ramona's arm. Ramona gave her a small glare, but said nothing. 

"Just... leave." Cerise at the way back to school. 

"Fine," Ramona grumped as she turned and walked away. Rosabella gave both a small apologetic wave before turning and following her girlfriend. 

"Doesn't she smell the blood thing all the time?" Rosabella asked as they walked. "What's so different about now?" 

"Nerves," Ramona answered. "She's probably telling Daring about our whole family situation, which would make her nervous. Whenever either of us gets nervous, our more wolfish senses go batshit crazy." 

"Got it. Wait, why do you smell like blood anyway? Even I smell it sometimes." 

"How should I know? Maybe I've gone hunting with my dad too many times...?" Ramona shrugged, really not caring. "Either way, Cerise points it out all the time and it's anoying as fuck." 

Rosabella stopped walking. They were a good distance away from school, still, close enough that it wouldn't take more than 2 minutes to get back but far enough away not to be seen by anyone. "Go ahead, we're not too far from school anyway. I don't want anyone to see us walking out of the woods together. They might get suspicious." 

"Whatever. Text you later?" Ramona kissed Rosabella before continuing down the path. 

"Yeah," Rosabella said. 

Meanwhile, Cerise was attempting to explain her family life to Daring.

"So my family is... weird," Cerise began. She pulled her hood down. Daring tried and failed to hold in a gasp. 

"My mom married the Big Bad Wolf which means that he's my dad," Cerise said. "You can break up with me if you want to, I don't care. Well I actually do care, but- Look, just don't tell anyone."

"Why would I break up with you?" Daring asked. He grabbed her shoulders. "Cerise, I love you for you. I don't care who your dad is. I mean, not going to lie, the fact that Mr Badwolf is your father terrifies me because I've acted like such an idiot around him in the past 3 years... but that's not the point. The point is, I'm not breaking up with you. Besides, if anything, the ears make you look even cuter." 

He kissed her, running his hands through her long brown hair. Cerise, of course, kissed back. When they pulled apart, they stayed in each other's arms for a long time, talking about bookball, of all things.


	3. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One final chaotic sleepover before the parents arrive

The night before Parents' Week, Briar hosted a sleepover in her dorm with all the gays. It was like one last hurrah before graduation. 

Of course, their real last hurrah would be graduation. They had something... special planned for the ceremony, after they had gotten their diplomas, to ensure they wouldn't be expelled last minute. 

But you, the reader, will have to wait and find out what that is when we get to that part. I'm not going to give away another bit of information about it. Also, fuck the 4th wall. I do what I want. 

Anywhoozle, onto Briar's sleepover. 

She invited Apple, Blondie, Cupid, Darling, Duchess, Faybelle (yeah, no shit Sherlock, it's her dorm too), Justine, Kitty, Lizzie, Maddie, Melody, Poppy, Ramona, and Rosabella. It might seem like an odd group, but through the magic of plot convenience, they had all found out that they were the only group of gays at Ever After High about halfway through last summer. 

They had also found out that Grimm is a cruel motherfucker who hates the gays and would expel them if he found out. So, they did the only logical thing: started a secret gay group chat and had illegal sleepovers. 

Everyone showed up at Briar and Faybelle's dorm one by one. The group had had so many sleepovers that year in that exact dorm (because nobody would question loud noises coming from Briar's since she was widely regarded as the school's resident party animal) that none of the girls even needed to bring anything. They all already had comfortable clothes stored away there, and Briar had an excess of blankets and pillows anyway. 

As they arrived, everyone dug out their pajamas and got changed in the bathroom. As a narrator, I need practice describing things, so I'm going to attempt to describe everyone's PJ's. Bear with me, folks.

Apple wore a white tank top with a golden apple on the front. The Apple was surrounded by vines of the same golden hue, and had a bite taken out of it. She also wore plain red sweatpants that had a white drawstring at the top and tightened at the ankles. 

Blondie had on solid-colored, pale blue t-shirt and cream-yellow leggings that went down about mid-calf length. The leggings had little, royal blue keys around the bottom of each leg. 

Briar wore a long-sleeved pink shirt that had black roses on the sleeves. She had on solid black shorts as well. 

Cupid wore a long, frilly, pale pink nightgown. It had short, poofy sleeves, which were embroidered with hot pink hearts. The nightgown went about 3/4 of the way down her calves. It was really old-fashioned, but comfortable is comfortable. 

Darling's shirt was just a silver sports bra, which had the straps connect into one in the back and a soft pink elastic around the bottom. She wore pale blue sweatpants which tightened at the ankles as well. 

Duchess wore a white t-shirt style nightgown with lavender frill on the bottom and the end of the sleeves. The whole thing was covered in black swan silhouettes. 

Faybelle wore a teal long-sleeved shirt that had a v-neck. The whole shirt was covered in a thorny pattern. She also had dark blue leggings that had the same thorny pattern on the bottom of the legs. 

Justine wore a pink tank top with golden yellow ballet slippers on it. She had yellow leggings the same color as the ballet slippers. The leggings had a black stripe going up the outside of each leg.

Kitty had on a long black t-shirt that had a lavender cat on the front of it. She wore dark purple shorts underneath that were barely visible due to the length of the shirt. 

Lizzie wore a black tank top with the straps combining into one in the back. The whole thing was covered in red hearts. She had solid red shorts on as well. 

Maddie wore teal shorts that had a yellow hat on the bottom of the left leg, a lavender t-shirt with black smiles all over it that was clearly not her own, and a black zip-up jacket that had red hearts all over the back that was also clearly not her own. 

Melody wore a bright yellow-green tank top with black music notes printed all over it. She had on pink- violet shorts as well. 

Poppy had on a gray shirt with a pink image of scissors cutting hair on the front of it. The sleeves of the shirt went down to about her elbows. She also wore purple leggings with a sweater pattern on them that went down to her calves. 

Ramona had navy blue leggings that had gold paw prints up the sides. She also wore a deep red sports bra that had a black flannel pattern on it. 

Rosabella had a long sleeve yellow shirt with a pink rose on the front. She had brown shorts on, too.

The girls all sat flopped down on either Briar or Faybelle's bed. 

"Guys, I have a question," Darling said, standing up before screaming "IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER THAN PUSSY?!" 

"YES, A REALLY GOOD BOOK!" Half the girls in the room shouted back.

"So we're going to quote vines all night?" Justine asked. 

"Duh. You expected anything else from us?" Faybelle said, rolling her eyes. 

"Wait a second, Briar, can you grab your wall projector?" Ramona asked. "I have a video I want to show you guys, while we're on the topic of vines." 

Briar turned the projector on for Ramona to connect her phone. She had decided it was a good idea to bring it with her this year so they could all watch vines on YouTube during sleepovers. 

The video's audio was "and they were roommates oh my god they were roommates". It was a split screen that had a picture of Blondie and Cupid in the top left, Maddie and Kitty in top right, Briar and Faybelle in the bottom left, and Melody and Justine in the bottom right. The people who weren't in the video were cracking up. 

"You left me out. I'm offended," Lizzie said. 

"You're not roommates with Maddie and Kitty though," Rosabella pointed out. 

"She sleeps in our room basically every night though," Kitty said. 

"And I fucking oop," Justine said from the back of the room. 

"Did you just become a VSCO girl?" Poppy asked her, shocked. 

"Sksksksksksksksk." Faybelle started laughing. "Do I regret that? Yes. Will I do it again? Almost definitely." 

"LISTEN UP HOES!" Blondie screamed. "We gotta recreate random vines at some point tonight!" 

"After curfew," Duchess said. "I wanna wake up as many people as possible in the wake of our idiocy." 

"I think you mean 'genius'," Darling corrected her. 

So, they watched vines for the next hour, quoting every single one along with it. Nobody else in that school of heathens knew vines except for the 15 girls in that room. Ashlynn, Hunter, and Sparrow knew vines too, but they rarely ever watched them, and quoting them was out of the question.

After curfew, the girls filed into the hall, Blondie with her camera. Apple, Rosabella, Melody, and Lizzie lined up, their sides to the wall. Faybelle flew over their heads. Apple turned around and started scream-singing. 

"Awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe." 

Rosabella did the same on the second word. 

"Awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe." 

Melody joined in on the third word. 

"Awimbawe awimbawe awimbawe" 

Lizzie was the last to scream-sing on the 4th word. The girls on the other side of the hall had trouble containing their laughter by this point. 

""Awimbawe awimbawe." 

Blondie directed the camera up more to get Faybelle in the shot as she started screaming. 

"EEEEEEEE-HEEEEEE-HEEEEEE!!" 

Doors started opening rapidly around the girls on the other side of the camera, who were laughing so hard by this point that is could be heard in the video. Blondie turned the camera off as the five in the shot burst into a fit of giggles as well as the people who had opened their doors began to complain. 

"What is happening right now?" Ashlynn Ella asked. 

"I cannot tell a lie, that scared me!" Cedar exclaimed. 

"Ugh, I literally just got to sleep too," Cerise groaned.

The girls in question bolted back to Briar and Faybelle's dorm. 

They spent the next two hours quoting vines and reminiscing about old times (including the time they had crashed that homophobic protest) before Kitty got an idea. 

The next thing you knew, ten of the girls were in cheap crayon costumes and Faybelle's face and hands coated in a very dark blue makeup. Nine out of the ten were in a circle, of which Apple was at the front wearing red. Blondie started filming. 

"Hello kids I'm the color red, and I brought my friends to teach you about them! They're the colors of all the things you see, and red is me, the color of awesome things! Like hearts, and roses, and mars. But most importantly..." Apple sang. 

"Love love love love love!" She tried to finish, but got cut off by Ramona, dressed in black, overlapping her with "Blood blood blood blood blood." 

"Hooray!" Everyone in the circle shouted as they rotated. Apple gave Ramona a dangerous look, but didn't do anything, as it was now Justine's turn to sing. 

"Hi, I'm orange like Mac and cheese. Let's name other orange things now if you please. You got pumpkins and tigers and the desert sand, monarch butterflies are your orange friends. La la la la la la, cheese!" Justine kept getting overlapped with Ramona shouting "prescription bottles." She yelled "pills" on the last word. 

"Hooray!" Everyone shouted, rotating again. 

"Why are you doing?!" Justine hissed are Ramona. 

"What I was born to do," Ramona answered. Now Rosabella was at the front of the circle, wearing yellow. 

"As you can probably guess-" she started. 

"Jaundice!" Ramona said, attempting to cut her off. 

"Yellow's pretty fun. You can find it on a bus or in the rays of the sun. If you ask me, yellow's number one," Rosabella continued. 

"Jaundice! Liver failure!" Ramona said. 

"If you like sour and yellow then try a lemon! Jaundice!" Rosabella sang. 

"Jaundice!" Everyone yelled as they rotated this time. 

"Dang it!" Rosabella screamed. Now Maddie, decked out in green, was at the front. 

"I once ate a bug that was the color green, but the ER said it was a poisonous thing. So that explains why I threw up green, and inside that green, there were chunks of green. I bet you wish you hadn't listened to green." 

"Hooray!" The girls said, slightly grossed out, switching places. 

"Why didn't you change that one?" Darling asked Ramona. She was wearing all blue. 

"I like that verse," Ramona answered. 

"The ocean is a place where many creatures live," Darling started. 

"Nightmares!" Ramona screamed over the word 'creatures.'

"It's the deep blue sea, and it's mysterious," Darling attempted to continue. Ramona shoved her aside after the word 'sea.' 

"And it'll kill you to death!" She yelled, overlapping Darling. "Especially if you are on Titanic. So let that sink in, pun intended." 

"Hooray," everyone said, unsure if they should keep going at this point. 

"Don't blow this for us! Come on!" Duchess said. She was covered head to toe in purple. "Purple is the color of many pretty things, from a lilac-" she never got to finish, as Ramona pulled out a fake taser at that point. She put the taser up against the purple-clad girl's neck and Duchess fell to the ground. 

"DUDE!" Darling screamed. 

"Hooray!" Maddie screamed alone this time. Everyone kept rotating reluctantly, leaving Cupid dressed in brown at the front with Ramona basically breathing down her neck, taser still in hand. 

"I guess it's my turn. There are brown things like dirt... I, uh, forgot the words... please don't hurt... me-" Cupid fell to the ground screaming as Ramona put the fake taser to her neck. 

"Hooray!" Maddie yelled again. Nobody moved for a second. Then, after Ramona held up the taser, they gave in, leaving Melody at the front now

"White things include," she began, attempting to grab the taser. 

"All broken bones," Ramona said, holding the taser up. 

"And doves and paper-" Melody started to run away. 

"And rabies foam-" Ramona tried to follow her. 

"There's ivory!" Melody yelled, running in the other direction. 

"Worth a lot of money. If you want to buy some then email me." Ramona stopped chasing her to look at the camera. 

"Hooray! Hooray." Maddie said. Everyone was cowering in the back now. 

"Black is the color of emptiness. I feel it in my soul cause I'm an emotional mess-" Ramona started. Duchess ran in and jumped on Ramona, knocking her to the ground. 

"TAKE CARE OF THE BODY. Shove her up a kid's nose or something," she said. 

"Back to normal!" Everyone cheered. Faybelle strolled in from the back, wearing a tan costume. 

"I'm the last crayon in the box, you see, and the color that they assigned to me- IS THIS." She turned to reveal the words "skin color" written messily on a large piece of masking tape. Everyone stopped and stared at her tan clothes, which made her blue skin stick out. The blue was made even more prominent by the makeup, and was now a bright cerulean.   
Blondie turned off the camera.

"Wow, it was actually really fun listening to Kitty for once," Apple said once the crayon girls had their pajamas back on and Faybelle had taken the makeup off. 

"Don't act so surprised," Kitty said. She was leaning on Lizzie's chest, sitting between the princess's legs. Maddie was sprawled out on her lap, and Kitty played with her teal and lavender hair absently. 

"Hey, maybe we should get some sleep," Briar suggested. "We have to wake up early enough to get you guys out of here tomorrow." Most people groaned. They didn't like waking up early. 

Eventually, they all said goodnight and went to sleep. Despite Briar's whole thing being "Sleeping Beauty," there were only so many blankets in her dorm. Nobody minded sharing, however. 

Each girl moved to her girlfriend and curled up under the blankets together. 

Lizzie laid flat on her back. Kitty and Maddie both had their heads on her shoulders, arms going around not only the Wonderlandian princess, but each other as well. 

Apple and Darling laid facing each other, Apple nuzzling her face into Darling's neck, Darling putting her free arm around Apple. 

Rosabella was on her stomach, basically using Ramona as a human body pillow. Ramona didn't mind, and pulled the other girl closer. 

Poppy and Duchess were facing each other, cuddled up close, arms around each other. 

Blondie faced away from Cupid, so Cupid hugged her closer with one arm over her waist. 

Briar and Faybelle were both on their backs, but Briar's head was on Faybelle's shoulder. Faybelle had her arm under Briar's neck and around her shoulder (she woke up the next morning with her arm hurting like a bitch but decided it was worth it).

Justine and Melody were laying in a way similar to Darling and Apple, with Justine burying her head into Melody's chest and Melody pulling her arm around Justine. 

After laying there for a while, everyone drifted off to sleep.


	4. The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven Queen and Snow White can’t stand each other. Shit goes down

Everyone's parents began to arrive at noon, and they rushed to the front of the school to greet them. 

The few teachers who had kids that went to school at Ever After High moved into their kids' rooms for the week. 

Cerise basically dragged her mom to her dorm so they could spend some family time with Ramona, Mr Badwolf, and each other. It had been forever since they had seen each other. 

Poppy and Holly ran out and hugged their mother, momentarily competing for her attention. That ended when Holly and Rapunzel somehow got their hair tied in a huge knot. They had to get to the girls' room side by side, connected at the famously long hair. 

The Wonderlandians' parents all arrived in a group together, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat walking side by side and laughing about a prank he had helped her pull, the Queen of Hearts attempting to make conversation with the White Rabbit and failing miserably due to his shot nerves, and Alice, meandering along lazily in the back, taking in the scenery. Alice was by far the youngest parent there, being only twice the age of her son, though you could have mistaken her for his older sister, a fact that made Snow White jealous when she saw the two. 

Even the Charming siblings walked faster than necessary to receive their parents, making it seem like they had actually been excited to see them rather than just greeting them dutifully. 

Everyone was happy their parents were there except Apple. 

By the time she got outside to meet her mother, Snow White and Raven were already locked in one of their infamous screaming matches, this time in front of everyone. People were whispering about how they couldn't believe what they were witnessing. The Good King stood there trying to calm them down, but to no avail.

Nobody could even make out what either screaming girl was saying, as they were just talking over each other, flailing arms, pointing fingers accusingly. Raven was starting to glow purple. 

"GIRLS!" the Good King finally screamed, which was not something you often heard him doing if you were neither his argumentative daughters who always butt heads or his unfortunate granddaughter who got stuck in the middle of it. "YOU ARE IN PUBLIC. Please, let's go somewhere more private and discuss this like civil adults!" Raven and Snow White both glared at each other before relenting. Raven and Apple lead their parents to their dorm.

"She started it!" Snow and Raven both screamed the second the dorm room door was shut, pointing and shooting sharp looks at one another. 

"I don't care who started what," the Good King said, holding up his hand. "Raven, go sit on your bed. Snow, go sit on Apple's bed. Both of you face the wall, not each other, and be quiet for 5 minutes. You're in time out." 

"Daddy, please, I'm 39 years old, you can't still put me in time out," Snow protested. Her father just pointed. Snow walked to the other side of her daughter's bed, crossed her arms, and plopped down with a "harumph!" 

Raven grabbed her phone, put her earbuds in, and turned up her music. Snow glanced back and pulled out headphones and her own phone, just so she could listen to better music than Raven. Everything was a competition with them. 

"You know, it amazes me how much two people can be so mature on their own, and yet act so much like spoiled, bratty little toddlers when they're together," the Good King muttered to Apple, taking a seat next to her on her air mattress. 

"I mean, I'm no expert on siblings or anything, you know, because I'm an only child and all, but I think this goes beyond petty sisterly rivalry," Apple said. 

"I think you're right. And I also think we better just enjoy the peace and quiet, because it's probably all we're going to get for the next week." 

Apple didn't say anything. She pulled out her phone to text Darling.

A: Hey babe, how's things with your mom? 

D: "dArLiNg, WhY cAn'T yOu Be MoRe LiKe AppLe WhiTe??????"

A: She really said that?

D: word for word. 

D: apparently my hair is too messy and my clothes are too wrinkled and my makeup is too cakey 

A: I'm sorry you have to put up with that

D: it could be worse. at least I'm not dex. dad started comparing him to daring pretty much from the second her got here. 

A: Wow. 

D: yeah. my family's a load of fun. i'm definitely not going to go no-contact with them the minute i turn 18 or anything... (note the sarcasm)

D: so how're things with your mom and raven? i heard them screaming outside. 

A: My grandfather put them both in a timeout. 

D: a timeout? isn't your mom like 40? 

A: That's what she tried to tell him, but at the end of the day, he's still her father in her mind. 

A: Right now they're silently competing over who has the better music. 

A: [attachment: one picture]

A: Is that a typical sibling rivalry...? 

D: i mean, my rivalry with daring is over who's the better knight and it usually ends with a sword fight instead of petty screaming matches so... i really couldn't tell you 

A: Oof, thanks anyway <3 

D: np bby Ɛ>

"Alright girls, are we ready to act like adults and talk this petty, ludicrous rivalry out once and for all?" the Good King asked, standing up. The drama queens on the beds turned around. 

"Fine." Raven said. 

"If I must." Snow narrowed her eyes at Raven. 

"Alright." The Good King walked over to Raven's bed and sat down next to his younger daughter. "Snow, if you'll join us, you can go first." 

A: Gtg, shit's about to go down. 

D: k bye ily 

As soon as Snow White was perched on the edge of Raven's bed like it might give her a disease if she sat back any further, she began to speak. 

"I don't like you," she began. "I never liked your mother. The only respect I had for her was as a rival in dragon sport during our time at school. I respect a well-grilled hot dog more than I respect her, and I'm a vegetarian. Your mother took everything from me. She took my father, she took my home, she took all the joy out of my happily ever after. She even stole the spotlight from me at my engagement party by announcing that she was pregnant with you." 

"Did I tell her to do that?" Raven snapped. "I wasn't even born yet. I didn't ask her to give Dad that love potion. I didn't ask her to ruin your life. I didn't even ask to be born." 

"Every time I would go visit my father which was less and less every year because she was around," Snow continued, "you would always take all the attention, screaming and crying. My Apple never screamed and cried." 

"Maybe Apple never cried because she wasn't beat and traumatized her whole childhood!" Raven exclaimed. "Boo hoo, life sucks, welcome to the real world, Princess. You might be the queen of Ever After, but that doesn't mean the world is going to revolve around you. Excuse me for running to Dad for comfort after my mom had just spent half and hour screaming at me and slapped me across the face. You were a grown adult and you were literally jealous of an abused toddler." 

"You always started everything," Snow said through gritted teeth. "Screaming at me from the time you could form full sentences. And I always had to be on the lookout for your random bursts of that awful magic." 

"So you decided that the best course of action there was to scream and argue with a 6 year old?" Raven shot back. "Maybe I did start a lot of stuff, but when you grow up in an abusive environment, you learn to always be on the look out for hostility. And if there's one thing you were to me, it was hostile. I'm sorry my magic was out of control. I literally just learned to control it last year, and I had to sign the Storybook of Legends to do it." 

"Yes, and that just made you SoOoOo PoPuLaR, didn't it?" 

"So being able to use my magic for other people made me popular, big whoop. Why do you care? You're the queen of all of Ever After and you've had just about everything handed to you on a silver platter. You wouldn't think it would be such a big deal to you that one thing go right in my life!" Raven's voice was getting louder with each word. She ttook a deep breath and tried to control herself. "You know, listening to you talk about me like I'm some kind of monster, I can see where Apple got her selfishness from." 

"How did I get dragged into this?!" Apple protested, still sitting cross-legged on the air mattress. Her thoughts sounded something like this: "Bitch?!" She just didn't say it out loud because her mother and her grandfather were sitting right there. 

"You leave my daughter out of this!" Snow yelled. 

"Sorry, no offense!" Raven added quickly, looking over at her roommate. "You've actually gotten way less selfish in the last year. Actual character growth and everything." 

"Thank you!" the blonde huffed.

"Look, besides the fact that I took attention away from you because you were an adult and I was a toddler, what's your actual problem with me?" Raven asked. 

"Your mother-" Snow began. 

"This isn't about her," Raven said, successfully cutting Snow off. "This is about me. Why do you feel the need to take your anger out on me?" 

"Why are you defending that awful woman if you don't want to be like her?" Snow shot back, 

"When did I ever defend her?! I hate her more than anyone! My point is that I'm not my mother! This isn't about what she did to you, this is about why you hate me!" Raven stood up, fists clenched. 

"But you remind me so much of her it's hard to see anything else! I have full on PTSD from her torment!" Snow slapped a hand over her mouth, clearly shocked that she let slip that she wasn't, in fact, perfect. 

"Like I don't have full on PTSD from my mother's torment and from the fact that she can still control my life from a mirror and from the time your husband tried to kill me," Raven deadpanned. "Like your hostility and screaming doesn't remind me of her sometimes and make me want to crawl into a hole and die." 

"I... I forgot about that..." Snow White muttered.

"Yeah, you forgot about that," Raven mocked. "You don't just forget about your "precious beloved" trying to kill your little sister- not that I can even call you a sister because you've always made my life a living nightmare. Until your mother died, your life was perfect. Now that my mom is gone, your life is back to being perfect. Face it. You've never gone through half the stuff I've gone through and you never will." 

"I was poisoned!" 

"And that was so traumatic that you want the same thing to happen to your kid?" 

"You have no idea what it was like," Snow snapped. 

"You knew it was going to happen," Raven snapped back. 

"I had no choice!" 

"But you did. You chose to bite that apple. You chose the coward's way out."

"Why not? You are one-"

"Girls." The Good King cut both of his daughters off. "This has gone on far too long. I fear this is mostly my fault. I allowed it to keep happening. When Raven was young, Snow was still fresh out of her poisoning in my mind. As time went by, I had hoped you two would come to some sort of agreement. I see now that that was foolish of me. 

"First thing's first," the Good King continued, "let's get the most inconsequential thing out of the way; Raven, apologize to Snow for calling her a coward. Not everyone can have the bravery it takes to flip the script, you know. It doesn't make them a coward, it makes them human." Raven gave her father a dirty look and clenched her fists. 

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry for calling you a coward." 

"Good. Now, Snow, apologize to Raven for screaming at her." 

"But Father-" Snow White protested. 

"Don't start, just apologize. She's right. She was a child and you took your anger out on her. You started just about every argument between you two, and the ones you didn't start, you made sure to finish in the most awful manner." 

Snow mumbled something under her breath. 

"What was that?" Raven asked, putting a hand to her ear. "I couldn't quite hear you." 

"imsorryistartedallthescreamingmatches," Snow whispered. 

"One more time? You're going to have to speak up." Raven knew full well what Snow had said and was just being a little shit, which she had the rights to do. 

"I'm sorry. I started. All. The. Screaming matches." Though Snow had an amiable smile on her face, her clipped tone betrayed her resentment. 

"Thank you." Raven stuck out her hand. "I hope we can at least be civil to one another." 

"I suppose we can. It's only for a week after all." Snow reluctantly shook Raven's hand. Each squeezed the other's hand in a death grip, as though to say this isn't over.


	5. The Talk From Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pretty good summary of what literally any Sex Ed class is like (be prepared to feel the awkwardness radiating off your screen, folks!)

"If all students in the senior class could please report to Professor Rumplestiltskin's class and all their parents could please report to auditorium to begin the tour of the school and get an insight from the teachers as to how your children have done throughout their school careers."

That announcement rang through the school Monday morning. The parents were eager to hear what their children had been getting into during school. The students, especially some of the rebels? Not so much. 

As the graduating class all gathered in Rumplestiltskin's classroom, they were on edge. We're they about to be yelled at? What had happened and was it Faybelle or Kitty who had done it while Maddie egged her on?

The door opened and two adults none of the kids had ever seen before walked in. One was a man, tall with a lanky build. His skin was yellow and his clothes appeared to be made from burlap, covered in colorful patches. Straw peaked out from under his sleeves, his hat, his pants, the hem of his shirt, and even on his neck. There was rope tied loosely around his neck, his wrists, and his ankles, and he worse shoes similar to bowling shoes. 

The woman had long, luscious brown curls that hung in two low pigtails on the sides of her head, tied up with blue ribbon. She wore a blue gingham dress that went midway down her calves. The sleeves of her dress where white and puffy, hanging off her shoulders just so. Her shoes were sparkly silver shoes with equally sparkly red heels that gave the short woman at least an extra three inches of hight. She wore barely any makeup, just a little bit of pink lip gloss and some silver eyeshadow to bring out her deep brown eyes. 

"Good morning, students of Ever After High!" The woman spoke in a transatlantic accent, like the way they spoke in old movies, only there was a subtle southern twang to her voice as well. "My name is Dorothy Gale and this is my friend Scarecrow." 

"We understand you're graduating in a few days and there's some things we've been asked to talk to you about," Scarceow said. "So if all the boys could please follow me..." 

The boys in the room got up and went to the front of the room. Scarecrow lead them to another room. As soon as the door shut, Dorothy turned around and began writing on the chalkboard. 

"Zoo wee mama and fuck me in the ass with a goddamn fidget spinner," Duchess groaned as she put her head down on her desk. She had a pretty good guess as to where this was heading. 

"You good?" Poppy asked, running her fingers through her girlfriend's hair. People within hearing range of Duchess gave her concerned looks. Duchess sat bolt upright. 

"Wouldyoujuststoppettingme!" She slapped Poppy's hand away from her head. 

"I wasn't petting you, I was trying to comfort you. Learn the difference," Poppy retorted. Still, she turned back to the front of the room... 

To see S E X written in big, bold letters across the chalkboard. 

"Hey, Darling?" Apple whispered to her girlfriend. 

"Yeah?" 

"Can I have your sweatshirt? Please?" 

"Why?" Darling asked, examining the shorter girl's face with concern. Apple wasn't usually one to take Darling's oversized sweatshirts. Even if she were about to freeze to death, Darling would have to fight to force the thing over her head. 

"I want to burrow myself into it," Apple responded. 

"Knock your socks off." Darling handed her the sweatshirt, which, like the majority of her wardrobe, was baby blue. The word "Hero" was embroidered across the top of the sweatshirt in shimmery silver thread with a pink crown over the o. Apple put the sweatshirt on, swimming in the fabric, and tucked her knees in at the bottom. She tried her best to make herself a small ball of Apple, pulling the neckline up over her nose. She got some envious looks from girls who wished they had thought to bring sweatshirts. 

"Now. Sex," Dorothy said. "That will be the topic of our discussion today." She looked like she positively wanted to die. 

"Normally, Glinda and The Wizard would be giving this talk, but, sadly, The Wizard passed two months ago in a balloon crash and there was an unforeseen incident involving the Munchkins, black paint, rainbow glitter, and a tornado of cows that Glinda had to attend to so... here the Scarecrow and I are. Well, actually, here I am. Scarecrow will be giving the same talk to the boys," Dorothy continued rambling. 

"Just fucking kill me now," Cupid muttered. 

"Um, so... sex. What is sex? Well, first, you need to know the... ahem... parts... involved." Dorothy looked like she was about to melt into a puddle on the floor. Lizzie slammed her head on her desk. 

"Those of the male sex have... a, um... penis." Dorothy's face turned bright red at the mere mention of the word. "Just... imagine a large sausage link." 

"I think I'm just going to throw myself off the highest roof of the school," Briar said under her breath. 

"Take me with you!" Faybelle whispered. 

"And those of the female sex have... vaginas..." If it was possible for Dorothy's face to get any redder, it did. "Just... picture a... donut?" 

"We all know that. We all have one," Melody grumbled, getting seriously fed up with Dorothy acting like uttering the words "vagina" and "penis" in what was supposed to be a sex ed class was scandalous. 

"Now, sex. The... sausage... slides into the... donut?... repeatedly... until the sausage has... um... stuff? come out it... and that's how you get pregnant, so don't have sex unless you're married and trying to make a baby! Any questions?" Dorothy looked relived to finally be finished talking, and she folded her hands pleasantly in front of her, giving the girls a smile. 

"I got a question," Ramona said, leaning against the wall with one foot on her chair and her hand over that knee. 

"Yes, you, with the flannel shirt in the back," Dorothy called, pointing to Ramona. She stood up straight before announcing her question in a loud, clear voice. 

"What the fuck was that?" 

"That. Was an explanation of sex," Dorothy said through gritted teeth. "And please don't swear, it's unbecoming of a young lady such as yourself." 

"It was a shitty metaphor for kids who walked in on mommy and daddy's 'fun adult time' at best," Ramona retorted. "And since you're not an actual teacher, I'll say whatever the goddamn hell I want, thank you very much." 

"Look, I know this is all new to you kids, but listen to the words I am saying." Dorothy looked around the room at each and every girl, trying to make her point clear. "There will be temptations in your stories. It can be hard to wait. But you must wait until marriage. The only purpose of sex is to create babies, and that should only happen within a marriage. It serves you, as a young woman, no purpose other than getting pregnant. Do you all understand?" 

"That's a load of dragon shit and you know it," Darling said, slamming her hand on the table standing out of her seat so fast her head started to spin. "What about protection? Birth control? STDs? Does none of that matter?" 

"And why is it," Faybelle asked, standing up herself, "that women are supposed to just gonna along with it and get nothing out it while the guy is supposed to get exactly what he wants from it?" 

"Protection and birth control are for sluts and STD's aren't real," Dorothy insisted. "The woman gets nothing out of it because that's just how our bodies are built. You will all do it eventually, with your future husbands, mark my words girls. Any more questions?" 

"Uh, Miss Gale?" Cedar raised her hand hesitantly. "What if I never want to do that with anyone?" 

"Don't be ridiculous. You'll have to do it eventually. How else will you ever have a daughter to carry out your family legacy?" Dorothy waved her hand dismissively. 

"Well, um, I'm a puppet, so my future child will also be a puppet. There's no hero in my story for me to marry. My father and my grandfather and my great grandfather and my great great grandfather and so on were never married." Cedar played with her fingers nervously. "And, uh, I've never felt the need to be with anyone, like, romantically or anything, so... I won't be getting married at all either. And I don't think I would want to have sex with anyone. Ever. In my life. Even if I were a real girl with the parts for it." 

"That will change. You're still young!" Dorothy insisted. Lizzie raised her hand. 

"I will never have sex with a man," she said adamantly. "But I know it's more than just a penis in a vagina. I'm just saying, you might want to check your facts."

"Wait, did you just say we all have to have an heir?" Rosabella asked. She had spent the last several minutes trying to process the mental gymnastics Dorothy went though to avoid telling them the actual truth. "Isn't reducing women to their ability to give birth basically admitting to seeing women as walking uteruses? You know, like a misogynist?" 

"I am not reducing women to their ability to give birth-" 

"Then why did you say we all have to do it?" Raven asked. 

"Hey, lady, isn't it a little fucked up that you're pressuring a teenager to have sex?" Poppy asked.

"Without even offering a proper way to protect yourself against STDs!" Ashlynn chimed in. 

"For the last time, STDs aren't real-" 

"Tell that to the people will have died from them," Justine called out. 

"A quick google search would teach us more than you did!" Raven screeched. 

"You know what you ungrateful little brats?" Dorothy snapped. "Do what you want. Be little sluts. Get yourselves pregnant outside of marriage. I don't care anymore! Everyone leave this room right now!" 

And with that, she stormed out, slamming the door behind her. 

"What a huge bitch," Cupid declared.


	6. The Heather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school play I said I was going to do

Tuesday night, Blondie texted everyone who was in the musical she was putting on to go to the Auditorium for the dress rehearsal. The play was Wednesday, so they had to make sure everything was perfect on the final run-through. 

The first thing the actors did was go to Melody, who was at the back of the auditorium, and got their microphones on. As usual, everyone bitched and moaned about the tape. 

"It'll hurt coming off!" Sparrow griped. Why he had even auditioned for the play was a total mystery. 

"It leaves ugly marks on my otherwise perfect face!" Daring complained, looking in a mirror. 

"Alright Narcissus, it comes off. Go kiss your mirror and quit being a little bitch baby," Ramona said. 

"I don't even understand how you got the male lead. You're not even a guy!" 

"So what I'm hearing is that you want to do the Dead Girl Walking scene with Justine?" Ramona deadpanned. 

"If Daring had got JD, I think I would have legitimately pulled a Martha," Justine piped up as Melody put the last piece of tape on Justine's face. The girls who were still there giggled. 

"No," Melody said as she handed Justine her mic pack. 

The next thing the actors did was go to the hall to get their costumes from Lizzie, who was already in full costume and makeup. The girls trudged off to one classroom across from the stage entrance and the boys went to the smaller one next to it. 

"WHOEVER THE FUCK IS BANGING THE WALL, KNOCK IT OFF!" Briar yelled as she yanked her green skirt on, having lost patience for it two minutes prior. 

"NO!" Sparrow screamed back. He violently pounded a whole drum solo out on the wall. 

"I've got an idea," Apple said, walking up to the wall with her white button up shirt half buttoned and one red argyle sock on. "Follow my lead." She hit the wall rapidly with her fists. Briar followed suit. Rosabella and Faybelle came over and joined in, followed by Raven, Cedar, and Ginger. All the girls were horribly out of sync and it rattled messily through Sparrow's skull when he heard it. The other boys in the changing room groaned, clearly pissed at Sparrow for riling the girls up. 

They may not have been famous for starting fights, but the girls of Ever After High could finish them no problem. 

Things started getting out of control when Maddie came over and joined in. She punched the wall so rapidly she broke through it. 

"Oops," the tea loving girl said as she struggled to extricate her fist from the wall. A knock came from the door. 

"You girls on your way to..." Cupid, who had been walking in to see if the girls were nearly ready to go to hair and makeup, stared at the hole in the wall, then at the girls in varying degrees of dressed. She slapped her hand to her face. 

"Alright, hold on. Someone give me a couple thumbtacks." She picked up a random baby blue shirt off the floor and stuck it to the wall with the thumbtacks. 

"Bitch, that's mine!" Darling said. 

"Would you rather have a hole in the wall so the boys can see you getting dressed?" Cupid asked. 

"Keep the thing there," Darling said quickly. 

"Thank you. Now. IS ANYONE READY FOR THEIR HAIR AND MAKEUP YET?" Cupid called out. Meshell, Ginger, and Bunny raised their hands, having been the first ones in the dressing rooms and having easy costumes to put on. Cupid beckoned then forward and led them out of the room. 

After everyone was dressed, they too went to Cupid and Poppy in another room for their hair and makeup. 

The boys mostly hated sitting for makeup, claiming it wasn't their thing. Daring nearly broke down crying and Hunter was unaffected, having allowed Ashlynn to practice her makeup skills on him many times when they were together. 

The makeup ranged from all black to basic stage makeup depending on the part of the person. 

Justine's hair was pulled down into a granny ponytail and her makeup was just basic stage makeup, as Veronica Sawyer was just one in the herd, trying hard to go with the grain at the beginning of the play, and Cupid needed a blank canvas to work with in the middle of the first song. 

Apple had bright red lipstick, red eyeshadow, and her hair pulled half back in a red scrunchie. Besides being the perfect person to play Heather Chandler, personality and acting-wise she also looked good in red. 

Rosabella's hair was in a high ponytail tied up with a black bow, and she had pale pink lipstick and yellow eyeshadow. She had to leave her glasses behind with either Poppy or Cupid when she went onstage, though that was her idea entirely. 

Briar's hair was also pulled half back like Apple's, only with a green ribbon instead of a scrunchie. Her eye shadow was a blinding, obnoxious green and her lips were painted chocolate brown, as not much else would go with her green clothes and makeup. 

Ramona had her hair pulled under a short dark wig. It was not a pleasant process and it took Poppy nearly 20 minutes to do. Her makeup was contoured so her face would look more masculine. Besides that, she just had normal stage makeup on. 

Maddie had her hair pulled half back in pigtails like an anime character and a soft pink headband with a unicorn on it was placed on her head. Her only makeup was her magenta lips. Martha Dunstock in the original musical never wore too much makeup either. She did, however, have white unicorns with rainbow manes and golden horns dangling from her ears. 

Daring had to be stopped from kissing a mirror because Cupid had insisted on putting pinkish-nude lipstick on all the boys, insisting that it would look better onstage. 

There was much debate between Poppy and Hunter over the latter's hair flap and what to do with it. Eventually it was decided that the hair flap would simply be left alone.

Dexter, Sparrow, and Darling had to have gray streaks put in their hair and makeup done to make them look older. Sparrow fought tooth and nail to get the makeup brushes out of Cupid's hands and the spray on dye out of Poppy's, but to no avail. Darling and Dexter were both just whatever about it. 

The other boys just had basic stage makeup and the other girls had eyeshadow and lipstick that aligned with the looks of their costumes. 

Dress rehearsal went to hell in a handbag within minutes. 

People were talking onstage in the middle of the first song and Blondie had to yell at them about that. Somebody had moved Justine's jacket so she had to go out without it after her costume change. 

During Candy Store, Apple accidentally kicked Justine in the face. She spent the next few minutes spluttering out an apology as everyone from backstage crowded around Justine to make sure she was okay.

In Freeze Your Brain, Ramona stared choking on her slushee and she continued to sing as she choked. She sounded like a sick frog, and after a few lines, she stopped making sound altogether and Justine had to do heimlich. 

Daring messed up his line completely during Our Love is God, and he did it on purpose. 

"Woah, chatte gratuite!" 

"Cut!" Blondie yelled. "What was that?" 

"It's French," Daring said defensively. 

"It's stupid! Kurt and Ram are supposed to be idiots! They wouldn't speak French!" Blondie snapped. 

"Veronica says that Kurt is the smartest guy on the football team!" 

"Did you miss the 'which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf' part?" Faybelle called from backstage. 

"Faybelle, are you talking from backstage?" Blondie said accusingly. 

"You two are out there having an argument and the play isn't even going on right now. Calm your tits." Faybelle walked out onstage to answer her and went back when she was finished talking: 

"I am uncomfortable with my part in this play and I am uncomfortable with saying that line specifically," Daring said. 

"Then you should have quit months ago, not waited until the night before the show to speak up. You'll say your line as it is and that's that," Blondie said with an air of finality. 

Most of the rest of the play went smoothly, except for the end song, when Maddie rolled out onto the stage in a wheelchair and ran over Briar's foot, prompting a string of swear words so long lumberjacks would be jealous. 

"Alright, that's the best we can do I guess," Blondie called. "Let's try to have less talking onstage in the background, don't touch things that aren't yours and say your lines properly, in English. Curtain is at 8 tomorrow, be here at 6:30 for mics!"

Wednesday night at exactly 8 pm, all the parents and teachers were sitting in the auditorium, excited for the play the students were putting on. The other students in the graduating class were there too, though they were less thrilled, having heard all about the show from the class group chat. And of course, all of the younger classes had crowded into the auditorium as well. Headmaster Grimm walked onstage in front of the closed curtain with a microphone in his hands. 

"Parents, thank you once again for being here this week. The students have been working hard since September to put on the play which you're about to see. They were so excited when I presented the idea to them! I'm sure it will showcase their destinies beautifully," he said. 

"Bitch," Blondie muttered from backstage. "It was my fucking idea. You wanted nothing to do with it, you slimy motherfucker." 

"Now, I'd like to invite the director of the show to say a few words. Miss Lockes?" He gestured to the side of the stage where Blondie was standing. She walked out and took the microphone from him as he went to his seat. As Blondie turned to face the parents and the other students, an idea came to her. 

"I would just like to thank Headmaster Grimm for suggesting that we do this show. The high school in the show, Westurburg High, is a perfect representation of what goes on here at Ever After High, and the characters are the perfect representation of my fellow students. Thank you once again to Headmaster Grimm for suggesting such an amazing show! So, without further ado, this is the Heathers." 

She turned the microphone off and walked backstage to the confused faces of Poppy, Cupid, and Duchess, who were all pulling stage crew. Farrah Goodfairy was standing in the hall outside of the auditorium. She had snuck in at Blondie's request, having been expelled in late September for kissing Ashlynn, for some magical assistance. They smiled and waved at each other before Farrah left. 

"Curtain," Blondie said into her headset. The curtain opened to reveal Justine and the background students onstage. Justine waited a moment before starting her opening monologue. As she spoke, Melody started the music behind her voice. 

"Why did you tell everyone the show was that dumbfuck's idea?" Duchess whisper-snapped. 

"You should be the one getting all the credit for this!" Cupid agreed. "After all, you're the one who directed it!" 

"And you worked with total divas like Daring for 10 months, which deserves a ton of credit. It was bad enough trying to get him to let me do his hair right so he didn't look like blonde Elvis," Poppy added. "I can't imagine trying to get him to say his lines and do the proper blocking." 

"Don't worry guys, I have a plan," Blondie assured them, snaking her arm around Cupid's waist discreetly. "This musical is going to be a horror show to our parents, right? Well now, the blame is off is and on Grimm. If the bastard wants to take credit for my ideas, he's also got to take responsibility when it inevitably goes to shit." 

"You're a genius," Cupid said, throwing her arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. 

"Holy shit... that's a great idea!" Poppy exclaimed. 

"Wow... you're a lot smarter than anyone gives you credit for," Duchess marveled. 

"I know I am," Blondie smirked. 

Justine, Apple, Rosabella, and Briar came offstage on that side a moment later. Justine was swarmed by Cupid in front of her with makeup and brushes, Poppy behind her with a hair tie and hairbrush, and Duchess next to her with clothes. Blondie went to run the lights for a moment, changing them between red, green, and yellow while the others assisted Justine with her costume change. 

By the time the girls playing the Heathers began sashaying out under the lunch trays, Justine was wearing a gray and navy plaid skirt, a white button up shirt, a bright blue blazer, and bright blue knee-high socks with black ballet flats. Her hair was in a high ponytail and she now had bright blue eyeshadow subtly dusted over her eyelids and an almost brown pink on her lips. She barely had a moment before she had to begin her slow procession under the lunch trays to join the others onstage. 

The audience was getting restless by the end of Beautiful. They weren't really seeing how any of what was happening onstage tied into the students' destinies. 

They were appalled at the blatant, vulgur name-calling in Candy Store. Never had anyone in that audience imagined they would see Apple White calling anyone "biotch", nor could they have ever imagined the Beauty cousins joining in and calling a girl in their class things like "pussy" or "lame-ass". 

The choir of "holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!" in Fight For Me got quite a response.The adults all looked to Headmaster Grimm to shut it down as the boys in lettermen jackets continued to get their asses beat in slow-mo by a kid in a black trench coat. Of course, being the thick-skulled dumbfuck he was, Grimm didn't notice their stares until the song's end. 

"I'm sure things will be more destiny-oriented in a moment," he said in an attempt to soothe the glaring crowd. 

The parents had mostly been pacified by the beginning of Freeze Your Brain, watching JD sing to Veronica about how he handled his depression with slushees. That seemed like a good tactic to some parents, though most realized how unhealthy it really was. 

They had been pacified, that is, until JD started to open up his voice toward the end of the song and they realized that it wasn't a he at all, but a girl with a very low voice. The parents and sister of the girl in question recognized the voice and were both stunned and impressed. Grimm, however, was neither. He stormed up the steps to the stage in an attempt to stop the show. The entire audience and most of the cast and crew watched with bated breath... 

As Grimm walked straight into an invisible wall. 

"What happened?" Faybelle asked. 

"I had Farrah come in earlier and put up a barrier so nobody who isn't involved in the play can get onstage," Blondie said. 

"Like I said before: genius," Duchess said. 

The parents in the audience all nearly broke down during Big Fun. Was this really the way their children acted when they're weren't around, drinking and doing weed, having huge, house destroying ragers? Some of the younger students secretly looked forward to senior year when they would be the ones having the ragers.

Dead Girl Walking (a cut version to prevent any actual inappropriateness) brought out cries of outrage from everyone. By that point, Grimm had run into the barrier so many times it was a miracle from Satan that he hadn't broken anything. 

The Me Inside Of Me got an.. oddly emotional response for being about a murder that was played off as a suicide. Students were crying. Parents were sobbing. Teachers were shocked. Even Grimm knocked off his bullshit for a moment to just watch. 

Of course, with the next song, Blue, the outrage came back at the sheer vulgarity of the song, though there were no actual curse words. 

There were a few more tears from the audience at the beginning of Our Love Is God, which turned to faces of shock as they watched blatant murder happen and began to realize how much of a psychopath JD truly was. 

During the intermission, many people were debating whether or not to actually leave when a very concerned, nearly enraged Rapunzel realized something. 

"Wait a moment... didn't Headmaster Grimm say this show was his idea?" 

"N-now, wait a second, let's not be rash here-" Grimm spluttered our as a mob of angry parents turned on him. 

"Who would suggest something like this to high school students? It's inappropriate and borderline scandalous!" Red Riding Hood spat. 

"It wasn't my idea! Now, if you'd all just-" 

"If it wasn't your idea then why did Blondie say it was?" Goldie Lockes asked accusingly. "Are you expecting me to believe that my daughter went along with your dumb lie?" 

"Ma'am, please-" 

"You're clearly lying right now! Is that what you're teaching these kids? How to lie?" Pinocchio asked. 

"Well, I, um-" 

Music began to play, cutting the adults off. They all returned to their seats, still giving Grimm their evil eyes. The curtain opened again to reveal Justine onstage. 

"Dear Diary, I'm going steady Mostly he's awesome, If a bit too rock n' roll. Lately he's bumped off Three of my classmates Lord have mercy on my soul." 

At the start of My Dead Gay Son, Grimm left the auditorium entirely and tried to run through the stage entrance. He smacked into another invisible wall, sending Apple, Ramona, and the stage crew members into fits of silent laughter. The audience sat stone-faced for the majority of the song. Their only display of expressiveness was at the line "I'm talking you and me, In the summer of '83!" when they all gasped in perfect sync with the cast onstage.

Seventeen drew out some tears from the adults. Backstage, the actors were watching as though it was the first time they had seen Justine and Ramona perform the song, which, it was the first time they were seeing it without hundreds of other things swirling through their minds. With graduation less than a week away, classes done forever, and not being allowed to go off and run lines or practice choreography, they had time to really watch the scene and the song. 

"Wow, they have good chemistry," Ginger remarked.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked. 

"Well, look at them! If I didn't know better, I'd think they were really a couple!" Ginger pointed at the stage. 

"Huh, yeah, I guess you're right," Raven agreed. 

"Well, duh they have good chemistry, they're best friends and they were roommates last year!" Rosabella said, butting into the conversation. "It would be the same as if Darling and I were out there, or if it were you and Apple." 

"Apple's not my best friend though-" Raven was cut off. 

"Stop talking!" Blondie silenced. 

Shine A Light made the audience go back to being stonefaced, mostly, though some teenagers loudly groaned or rolled their eyes. 

More people began crying in Lifeboat. Grimm gave up trying to get onstage, instead returning to his seat more of a disheveled mess than anyone had ever seen him. 

There wasn't much reaction from any of the adults during Shine A Light Reprise, but the students in the audience felt for Heather MacNamara. All of them had seen similar things happen from their peers who were too cruel for their own good. Some had even been in Mac's position themselves. The normal bitchiness of high schoolers was amplified tenfold when they were being told what they had to do for the rest of their lives. 

Kindergarten Boyfriend made more adults cry. After all, it's basically a suicide note put to music, and not a bullshit one to trick the cops either, like the last two were. There was even some crying from backstage, from all the people who related to the song and how society dictated that they weren't supposed to be with someone they loved, but goddamn it they were going to be anyway, no matter the consequences. Also, Maddie had an oddly good voice. 

Yo Girl had the audience on edge. Despite how hard the adults and the students who hadn't fully committed to watching the musical yet tried, they were now hooked on Veronica Sawyer's story. As JD entered the scene, they all waited anxiously, holding their breath, to see what he would do to Veronica. Would he kill her too? 

The result turned out to be much worse than anyone could have imagined. JD planned to spare Veronica... so long as she helped him blow up the school with most of the students inside. The more Meant To Be Yours went on, the more everyone realized how beyond help, how truly sociopathic and messed up JD was. Another huge gasp from the crowd as he busted open Veronica's closet to find that she had hung herself, followed by relieved gasps as Veronica's mother came in and it was revealed that she had faked it to get JD off her case. 

By Dead Girl Walking Reprise, everyone had given up feeling bad for JD, and the "I wish I had more TNT" line just cemented that he was far beyond saving at that point. 

While some in the audience heard the "Hope you'll miss me, Wish you'd kiss me" line of I Am Damaged, some of them thought it was one final act of manipulation from JD. Perhaps he was trying to make himself appear as a martyr in Veronica's eyes so he'd always be in the back of her mind, haunting her asking with Kurt, Ram, and Heather Chandler. Others were convinced that JD was being genuine. He was about to die and he knew it, and he was maybe a little sad that Veronica, the only person in his life who he ever felt truly loved him, wouldn't even care that he was gone. It was a debate that would carry out long into the summer. 

At the end of the final song, Seventeen Reprise for anyone keeping track, the cast got a standing ovation that continued well into curtain call, where the whole cast came out with smiles on their faces. Despite the crudeness of the story, they had, for the most part, enjoyed the show. As they took their final bow, Grimm looked like he wanted to throw himself off the roof.


	7. Late Night Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some midnight conversations

Apple flopped onto her pillow, sighing loudly. She had a yellow notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. She was having a hard time thinking. She debated asking Raven for help, but as she saw her roommate sleeping across the dark room, she decided against it. Sighing again, she pulled out her phone to text Darling. 

A: Helppppppp

D: What is it? 

D: And what are you doing up at 1 am? 

A: I can't figure out what to write for my speech! 

A: Plus, my sleep schedule has been fucked ever since that god-forsaken group chat got started. 

D: Mood. 

D: anyway. You're doing a speech? I thought we were all going to do the thing? 

A: We are but I still feel like I need to give a speech. 

D: How come? 

A: Well, you've seen how I've made high school unbearable for everyone, freaking out at people for not wanting their destinies and everything. 

D: That was last year, most of us are over it by now. 

A: But I was wrong about everything and I need to make sure everyone knows it! 

A: I should have listened to Raven in the first place.

D: well, just write about how wrong you were then 

A: But how?? Do you think I would just make things worse?

D: I'm honestly not really sure babe. I personally wasn't ever bothered by it, although that's probably from years of secret knight training teaching me not to give a fuck. 

D: Just go with your gut on this one. 

A: My gut hasn't been right since I become friends with the crackheads 

D: mine either, but you've got to trust yourself. You'll make the right decision. 

D: I think I actually need to get some sleep though. We've got that graduation rehearsal tomorrow and I don't want to fall asleep onstage. 

Apple: K, night, ily

Darling: ily2 

Apple rolled back over into her back and groaned. Why couldn't she think? Why did it have to be so hard to admit that she was wrong? She began tapping her head with the pen. 

"Apple?" A groggy voice said from across the room. "Are you hitting yourself with a pen?" 

"Raven!" Apple said quietly, startled. "I was just- Wait, what are you doing up? It's 1 in the morning." 

"It's nearly impossible to get comfortable on this stupid air mattress," Raven said back, stressing the last words a little too loudly. She quickly looked at her dad in her bed and Snow in Apple's. Both were still sleeping. She let out a breath of relief before turning on her stomach so she was facing Apple. 

"What are you still doing up?" 

"You know how I'm valedictorian at graduation?" Apple asked, flipping herself over like Raven. 

"Really? You? Noooooo," the dark haired girl said sarcastically. "I had no idea! It's not like you've mentioned it 800 times or anything!" 

"Ha ha." Apple rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to write my speech." 

"Really? Wow. I would have thought you of all people would have had it done by now." 

"Yeah. Hey, Raven?" 

"Hmm?" 

"I'm sorry." Apple looked over and saw the confused look on her roommate's face. 

"For what?" Raven asked. 

"Everything. For trying to force you to follow your destiny, for releasing your mom last year, and for being a stuck up jerk in general." 

"Apple, don't blame yourself for breaking my mom out. It wasn't your fault," Raven reassured her. She can manipulate anyone into doing anything. My mom saw that you were feeling weak and she took advantage of that. That is not your fault." 

"But it is. Because I wanted my destiny so badly I was willing to do anything to get it," Apple said. "And stop comforting me while I'm apologizing to you!" 

"Fine. I'll just tell you the cold, hard truth: that I was right all along." Raven got a meaningful look on her face. "You still got your destiny. Without me poisoning you. If you believe that much in destiny, should have trusted that things would work themselves out on their own. Isn't that kind of what destiny is? Some cosmic power interfering in everyone's lives and making them go a certain way?" 

"Okay, okay, I get it. You were right and I was wrong," Apple said. "Like always." 

"Well, not always. Hey, by the way, what did you get on question 4 of that test we took earlier?" Raven asked. 

"You mean the review test about that horrible sex ed class we took?" Apple confirmed. "C." 

"What?! I put A!" Raven grumped. "Whatever. It's not like it's my fault anyway. Dorothy didn't actually teach us anything we didn't already know." Apple giggled in response. 

In Blondie and Cupid's dorm, the two sat cuddled together on the latter's air mattress. Blondie was sure that if Goldilocks or Eros began to stir, she could make it back to her own bed before the woke. 

"So, what do you plan to do after graduation?" Blondie asked her girlfriend. "I don't think you've ever really told me." 

"Well... the first thing I do is going to have to be going back to my old school to see how things are there," Cupid said slowly. "I should also probably grab the crossbow that I insisted didn't need to be fixed but my dad fixed anyway. Just to make sure it stays out of everyone's hands." 

"You have a crossbow?!" Blondie exclaimed in the quietest voice she could manage. She turned to look at the pink-haired girl. "You, the shittiest aimer in all of Ever After, has a crossbow?" 

"Yep. And the last time someone got their hands on it, this girl, Draculaura? Her ex boyfriend showed up, used some love magic, made her fall back in love with him so he could steal her literal heart, and she broke up with her boyfriend. The boyfriend and a couple of other people came to me for help and the boyfriend and I accidentally fell in love instead, that was a whole ordeal," Cupid explained. "Everyone ended up in love with random objects and random people." 

"...what?" 

"Never mind. Point is, it was a mess and I need to make sure that the crossbow didn't wind up in the wrong hands," Cupid said. "What about you? What are you doing after graduation?" 

Truthfully, Cupid knew full well what her girlfriend was going to do after graduation. It was all she talked about. But Cupid felt the blonde falling asleep, and she wasn't ready for her to go back to her own bed quite yet. 

"I'm going to go through with my story, first of all," Blondie yawned. 

"Because you want to of because you think you have to?" 

"Both, I guess." Blondie shrugged. 

"Don't put yourself in a dangerous situation because you feel that you're supposed to," Cupid warned. "The bears don't like you and there's nothing to say that they'll act the way they're supposed to. If you actually want to go through with it, that's one thing, but don't needlessly endanger yourself because society tells you to." 

"I actually want my destiny," Blondie assured her. "Maybe it's because I've had this idea of a perfect story that ends with everything being just right, but I do want to go through with it." 

"Just be safe, that's what really matters." Cupid kisses her girlfriend's cheek. 

"I'll be fine. And after I get my happily ever after, I'm going to go to college to become a reporter." Blondie yawned again, then paused mid-yawn. "Hey, what exactly is your story anyway? Isn't there like 8 different stories with Eros? How does that work...?" 

"I don't think I exactly have a destiny," Cupid admitted. "Between being adopted and coming from somewhere were the concept of destiny isn't really a thing." 

"Wait, I'd you don't have a destiny, how did you get accepted to this school?" Blondie asked. 

"I think they were honestly afraid of pissing off a god," Cupid giggled. Then she yawned. 

"I'm going back to my own bed now," Blondie said, kissing Cupid quickly. "It seems like we both need to get some sleep. Night!" She quickly went to her own air mattress and curled up under the blankets. 

"Good night!" Cupid whispered back as loudly as she could, pulling her own blanket up tight around her. 

In the O'Hair twins' dorm earlier that night, Poppy sat on her air mattress in her pajamas as her parents got ready for bed, phone in hand. Holly sat on her own temporary bed with a book. Poppy was texting Duchess, and she was nervous.

P: I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!!!!

D: Then don't. 

P: BUT I WANT TO!!!

D: Then do it. 

P: BUT I DON'T WANT TO!! 

D: Babe, ily, but I can't help you if you don't make up your mind. Do you want to do it or not? 

P: I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO BUT I DON'T BUT I DO

D: Okay, you need to calm down before I can help you 

P: I'm going to do it. 

D: K, good luck! 

Poppy looked across the room at her sister, ignoring her parents, who had climbed into bed and were already beginning to drift off to sleep. 

P: I CAN'T DO THIS!!!! 

D: IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN 3 SECONDS!!! If you don't want to do it, don't do it! 

P: I'm doing it... maybe...

D: Okay, the first step of something like is is to make up your fucking mind on if you actually want to do it or not. It's a big thing and I need you to understand nobody's forcing you. 

P: I know that! I'm going right now. 

D: Good luck! Again! 

P: NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO REMIND ME OF MY INABILITY TO MAKE A FUCKING DECISION!! 

D: Take a breath! 

P: Fuck you 

D: I know you're stressed so I'll ignore that. 

D: YOU GOT THIS!! 

Poppy took a deep breath. She got up and walked over to her twin. 

"Hey, Holly, can I talk to you?" She asked. 

"Yeah, always, what's up?" Holly said. 

"Can I talk to you in private?" Poppy gave her a look that said 'This isn't a choice, I'm just asking to be polite.' "I just don't want Mom and Dad to overhear. It's... a sensitive matter." 

"Sure..." It was Holly's turn to give Poppy a look, though hers was suspicious. 

"Great come with me," Poppy said quickly as she pulled Holly by the wrist into the bathroom. 

"What is this about?" Holly gasped. "Wait, is this about the Rapunzel destiny? Do you want it back? Because if you want it back it's rightfully yours but also I really hope you don't want it back because I really want it but if you want it it's yours and you can take it and I will shave my head so the witch doesn't take the wrong twin but I really don't want to shave my head please tell me I don't have to shave my head!" 

The secretly older twin blinked a couple of times, trying to process the nearly 70 word rant Holly had gone on without taking so much as a single breath. 

"What? I- NO. No, I don't want my destiny, take it, please, I can't sit in a tower for god-only-knows-how-long waiting for some random prince to get me pregnant so the witch kicks me out, I absolutely cannot do any of that," Poppy said. "Our tale is so fucked up I don't know how you could want anything to do with it, but it's yours if you want it." 

"Oh thank heavens!" Holly sighed in relief. She swatted Poppy's arm. "Don't swear! So, if you didn't want to talk to me about our story, what did you want to talk about?" 

"There's something I need to tell you, and I've actually been meaning to tell you for a while, but I was so worried you would tell someone-" Poppy began. 

"Sis, I would never tell anyone your secrets, and I'm actually kind of offended you think so little of me," Holly cut her off. 

"It's not that I think little of you, I'm probably being an insecure stress ball full of anxiety, but I just don't want this to go public," Poppy explained. 

"You can tell me anything. I won't tell," Holly promised, holding out her right pinkie. 

"Pinkie swears? What are we, 4?" Poppy laughed as she interlocked her pinkie with her sister's. 

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" Holly asked. Poppy took a deep breath. 

"I'm bisexual, I don't know if you know what that means but it's when you like 2 or more genders, and I'm bi and I maybe kind of have a girlfriend who might sort of be Duchess, and I don't know how Mom and Dad will react so I definitely don't want them to know, but you're my twin sister so I thought that would be different I hope you don't see me any differently now," she said as quickly as possible. 

Now it was Holly's turn to blink in confusion. 

"Why?" She asked. 

"It's not something I can control, just like you can't control being straight." Poppy felt betrayed at her sister's words.

"No, not like that!" Holly clarified quickly. "You're my sister, of course I don't see you any differently, just... why Duchess?" 

"You couldn't possibly have phrased that any worse you butthead!" Poppy exclaimed, smacking Holly in the arm. 

"I know, I heard it as soon as the words left my mouth!" Holly apologized. "I'm so sorry! But actually... why would you date Duchess?" 

"You don't even know her," Poppy pointed out. 

"I know her, Poppy, we've been going to the same school since second grade," Holly argued. "She's really rude to everyone, she's the second most arrogant person I've ever met, and she's just so obnoxious!" 

"What I meant was that you don't know her. Not really. Sure, you know who she is, and you've met her and stuff, but have you ever really sat down and had a conversation with her?" 

Holly opened her mouth to speak. 

"School assignments don't count!" Poppy added. 

Holly closed her mouth. 

"Okay, fine," the longer-haired twin relented. "So I don't know Duchess that well. Since you do, tell me, what's so great about her?" 

"She's really sweet and caring and considerate, at least with me, and she's actually a sappy sentimental bitch. She's basically a completely different person when she's with me. I'm sorry you don't like her, but I'm not breaking up with my girlfriend because my sister told me to." 

"I didn't say break up with her, I'm just worried about you is all," Holly said defensively. "Duchess isn't exactly a good influence, you know. She's a snarky jerk with an attitude problem who half the school can't stand to even be in the same room with, so I'm just shocked you'd even hang out willingly, let alone date her." 

"You're not my mother," Poppy said defiantly. 

"You didn't let me finish. I may not like her. Most of the school may not like her. She may think she's the best thing since sliced bread. But, she clearly makes you happy, just from the way you talk about her. So... I guess I can keep my mouth shut about her." 

"About her or about everything I told you...?" Poppy asked suspiciously. 

"About her and how awful I think she is for you." Holly gave her sister a look. "You really think I'd go blabbing something that big?" 

"Well, all you've done this whole conversation is criticize, so..." 

"I was simply pointing out facts. She thinks she 's better than us, and it's high time she got off her high horse. That doesn't equate to blabbing. But for some reason, you seem to care about her, so I'll stop criticizing her every move."

Poppy left the bathroom without another word. She got in bed and pulled her phone out. 

P: I did it... 

D: how'd it go? 

P: She accepts my sexuality 

D: 🥳 

P: But she still hates you 

D: of fucking course she does. 

P: But she doesn't see me any differently!! 

D: That's great! 

D: I mean, she's your sister, I didn't think you really had to be worried, but still! 

D: Hey, quick question: What did you put in the disappearing building thingy this afternoon? 

P: Disappearing building thingy? You mean Heritage Hall? 

D: YEAH! THAT! 

P: I didn't put anything because I don't have a destiny, remember? Holly has it. 

D: Oh. Right. 

P: What about you? What did you put? 

D: I put a pair of ballet shoes because I had no fucking clue what to put

P: glad I don't have a destiny because I don't have do figure that shit out lmaoo! Sucks to suck, bitch! 

D: fuck you 

P: Love you too! 

Poppy stayed up for most of the rest of the night texting Duchess about this or that, mostly listening to her fears about what happened after graduation and about her story.

Little did everyone know, that would be the last but of peace they'd get for a few days.


	8. In The Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can pinpoint the exact moment when everything goes to hell

The students were outside practicing for graduation on Friday morning. They had lined up in alphabetical order on the side of the stage and waited for Grimm to call their names to receive their "diplomas". Really, all they got at the time was a piece of paper with "DiᑫloMA" written in the messy scrawl of either a 4 year old or Baba Yaga.

All the adults who weren't speaking at graduation (so the parents and all the teachers besides Headmaster Grimm, Giles Grimm, and Baba Yaga) were inside helping set up the cafeteria for a party for after the ceremony the following day. Of course, it was difficult with younger students gathering around with their bags to say good bye to their friends for the summer all over the place.

"No! You do not strut across the stage. You walk with confidence!" Grimm scolded everyone for the hundredth time. He demonstrated the proper way to walk. 

"Isn't that literally just the same thing?" Rosabella whispered to Briar. 

"It is," Briar nodded. "And he looks like a peacock." 

The two cousins tried to stifle their giggles as they watched the headmaster. 

Grimm was strutting across the stage (you know, the exact thing he told the students that they weren't allowed to do), arms pumping madly and hips swinging wildly. On top of that, his knees were going so high that he nearly kneed himself in the face every time he took a step. 

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you walk across the stage," Grimm declared proudly. "We'll do one more run through." 

"Um, Headmaster, if I may." Apple raised her hand meekly from the back of the line, the only one who could compose herself lone enough to speak. "It's nearly noon. Can we take a quick break for lunch?" 

"What? Oh, alright," Grimm snapped. "You kids have an hour to eat. After that, we'll run through the ceremony until you get it right." 

All the students on the stage bolted to the cafeteria like demons out of hell, glad to be done with the Nightmare of a practice. 

"Briar!" Faybelle grabbed her girlfriend's arm. "Come with me." 

"Where are we going?" Briar asked, following the paler girl into the woods. 

"I want to talk to you," Faybelle said simply. It wasn't much of an explanation, but Briar suspected that it was all she was going to get from the dark fairy. 

The two walked a good distance into the woods before Faybelle started talking. 

"So. We graduate tomorrow," Faybelle began awkwardly. 

"Yeah. Hey, what's wrong? You're acting weird." Briar gave Faybelle a suspicious look. 

"It's just... fairies have to follow their destinies or they die. Everything is telling us that we can't be together." Faybelle took the pink-clad girl's hands. "I'm not going to do it. I just don't know how long I'll have after graduation." 

"Fay..." Briar choked back tears. She collapsed into Faybelle's arms. "I'm so sorry..." 

"It's not your fault the rules of the universe don't want anyone to be happy." Faybelle wrapped her arms tighter around the brunette. "Come on, let's just keep walking before we have to go back for that hellish rehearsal." 

The girls kept going slowly for about half an hour, not speaking, just thinking. 

"Hey, we better turn back. We're going to be late getting back at this rate, and I don't want to have detention on my last day here," Faybelle tried to say. She was met with silence. "...Briar?" She turned to see Briar standing there, staring at seemingly nothing. 

"Look" Briar pointed at something. Faybelle struggled to see what it was over her shoulder. 

"Where did it come from?" She asked. 

A single, pink rose stood tall among leaves and vines. There was a beam of sunlight cascading down over the rose, sparkling off its leaves like a spotlight. 

It was a gorgeous sight, but roses don't usually grow in the middle of the forest. Something about that flower gave Faybelle a bad feeling, a churning in her stomach. 

Sure, it might have been beautiful, but sometimes the best curses come disguised as miracles. 

"Briar, I don't like the looks of that flower," Faybelle warned. "Come on, we should get back to school." 

Briar didn't hear her, seemingly in a trance. She reached out for the rose. 

"Briar, don't!" Faybelle grabbed her girlfriend's arm in a desperate attempt to pull her gaze away from the flower that was giving the dark fae such an unsettling feeling. Briar jerked her arm away. 

She walked forward, slowly, almost zombie-like, with her hand extended. She grabbed the rose. 

Briar gasped, drawing her now shaking hand away. She looked down and saw a speck of blood on her index finger rom one of the thorns. 

"Faybelle," she breathed, turning, extending her other arm to reach out to the pale girl- 

She fell forward, eyes rolling to the back of her head. 

"Briar!" Faybelle lunged and grabbed the brunette to keep her from face-planting. She sank to the ground and moved Briar's head to her lap. 

The rose was now turning black, a sickly pink smoke rising from its petals, replacing the sunbeam. Vines wrapped themselves around Briar's ankles, slowly snaking their way up her legs. 

Faybelle felt hot tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she lowered her head to Briar's chest. She recognized the kind of magic the rose had been infused with. 

The trance, the wilting, the smoke, the vines. 

It was a sleeping curse. 

Briar was going to be forced to face her destiny. 

No. Faybelle wasn't going to let that happen. As long as she was alive, she wasn't going to let her girlfriend, the girl she loved, sleep her life away and lose all the people she cared about. Faybelle vowed then and there to find the prince or the knight or even the average joe from the coffee shop who could wake Briar up. She squeezed the tanned girl's arms in determination. 

Faybelle flew back to the school as fast as her wings would carry her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She made it back in just under fifteen minutes. 

She busted into the cafeteria where, moments prior, everyone, with the exception of Sleeping Beauty and the Dark Fairy, had been eating and talking and laughing with their families. Now they all turned to look at her. 

"It's Briar," she gasped. "She pricked her finger on this weird rose in the woods and it started smoking and now she's asleep and I can't wake her up. I think it was a sleeping curse." 

"Where is she?" Sleeping Beauty stood up. "Where is my daughter?" 

"Come with me." Faybelle flew out, Sleeping Beauty and her husband running after her. Everyone else followed them, muttering among themselves about how this could have possibly happened. 

"My baby!" Sleeping Beauty sobbed once they were in the woods and she saw her only daughter's limp body. The vines were now up to her stomach and they appeared to have stopped. 

"Alright, listen up!" Giles Grimm said. "It will most likely not work, as it hasn't been 100 years yet, but every boy who doesn't know his destiny, line up. We're going to attempt to wake her." 

(Just before you all go insane, he was using the royal "we". Giles Grimm had no intention of attempting to wake her up himself because he isn't a pedophelic creepo like some people *cough* Grimm *cough*)

"You cannot do that!" Grimm shouted at his brother. "It goes against the story!" 

"So does her pricking her finger on a fucking flower in the middle goddamn woods!" Faybelle snapped. 

"Miss Thorn, you've done quite enough, thank you very much," Grimm said sharply. 

"She does make a good point though. Maybe we should go through with Giles' idea," Baba Yaga suggested. 

"If there's even a slight chance it could work, do it," Briar's father said firmly. 

Faybelle stood to the side, away from the crowd, as every boy in the school tried to wake Briar. 

"What happened?" Duchess asked, pushing through the crowd. "I know you didn't do that. You're too much of a sappy motherfucker to ever curse her." 

"It's like I said earlier," Faybelle explained, "there was this weird rose, and she was in this sort-of trance, and she pricked her finger on a thorn and collapsed." 

"I'm not sure if anyone else will believe that," Duchess said. "But I can stick up for you if you want." 

"Just leave me alone. Please." Faybelle was holding back her tears still. She wouldn't let herself cry. Not in front of everyone. 

"Okay, fine." Duchess elbowed her way back into the crowd. 

None of the boys could wake her. By nightfall, Briar's dad had rounded up every boy in Ever After, hoping they would be the one to wake his daughter. Even the boys who did know their destinies had given it a go in a final, desperate attempt to break the curse. None of it had worked. She was still fast asleep on the forest floor. 

Faybelle tried to see what was happening occasionally, but every time she got close to Briar, Sleeping Beauty would make some snide remark about how she had already done plenty. That was fine, Faybelle understood where she was coming from. After all, the woman had just found out that she may never get to see her daughter again. But did the rest of the school have to give Faybelle death glares too? 

"Not to say I told you so, but I did warn you that it wouldn't work," Grimm said as the sun began to set. "We should head back to school. You kids are graduating tomorrow and it's almost dark." 

"It was worth a shot," Giles Grimm insisted. "You had no way of knowing for sure whether it would work or not." 

"We need to get back to school," Grim repeated. "Let's go, everyone." 

Sleeping Beauty and her husband didn't want to leave their daughter's body, but the vines wouldn't let her go. 

That night, Faybelle sat on the windowsil of her room, finally crying. She had earbuds in, listening to Payphone, replaying the   
If Happy Ever After did exist  
I would still be holding you like this  
All these fairy tales are full of shit  
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick   
part over and over, thinking about how unfair it was that this world put so much stock in "follow the story and it will all be fine". 

Without meaning to, without even doing anything, she had followed the story, and her girlfriend had paid the price. It was not all fine, and if it weren't for the bullshit that was destiny, Faybelle might be sneaking under the covers of Briar's air mattress right now, holding her close, kissing her, and cuddling her until she fell asleep. 

She knew her thoughts were uncharacteristically cheesy, the exact thing she liked to make fun of others for, but she didn't care. This was different. At least they knew they would see whoever they were dating again within the next century (and that's assuming she survived long enough to see Briar again). 

Briar's parents had gone to stay with Rosabella's family that night, insisting that they couldn't be in the same room as the girl who had taken their daughter from them prematurely. 

"Faybelle." The Dark Fairy's voice snapped the teen out of the trance she was in, thinking about the good times she had shared with Briar. 

Faybelle tried to wipe her tears quickly as she turned around and pulled her earbuds out. 

"You shouldn't be so upset about this, my dear." The Dark Fairy cupped her daughter's face with one hand. "It's what was supposed to happen." 

"But I didn't curse her!" Faybelle said for what seemed like the millionth time since she had gotten back to school. 

"You mustn't tell anyone that it wasn't you," her mother warned seriously. 

"Why not?" Faybelle asked. 

Instead of answering, the Dark Fairy said, "I knew you could never actually go through with it." 

"What do you mean by that...?" Faybelle looked at her mother suspiciously. 

"I told the school that organizing the dorm assignments by story would never work, and I was right. You've become too attached to the girl. You would never have the guts to actually go through with your destiny." The Dark Fairy put her hand on Faybelle's face again. "There's nothing wrong with caring for someone unless your way of caring for them puts you in danger. Don't worry though, that's all in the past." She patted Faybelle's face. 

"The rose." Faybelle gasped as the realization hit her like a punch to the gut, knocking the air out of her lungs. "You put it there. You knew she would touch it! How could you?!" 

"I did what was necessary," the Dark Fairy insisted. "To protect you." 

"How is this protecting me?" Faybelle snapped. 

"You would have died had she not been cursed," her mother said darkly. "I couldn't let that happen." 

"That was my choice to make!" The teen yelled through new tears. 

"You're a teenager, you don't get to make those kinds of choices. When you turn eighteen, you can do whatever you want. Until then, I do what's best for the both of us. You are my only child and I love you too much to just let you throw your life away, literally throw your life away. Understood?" 

Instead of answering, Faybelle flew out the window, ignoring her mother calling her name. 

She flew until she was back at the spot where Briar had been left. Faybelle moved the sleeping girl's head into her lap once more. 

"Briar, I am so sorry," she sobbed. "I should have done something, anything, to prevent this. Now you're going to miss out on so much life because of me. I never wanted this to happen. I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you. I'm sorry I never said it while I knew you could hear it. I hope that you can forgive me someday."

Knowing she'd have to go back to school in a few minutes, as it was dangerous to be in the woods at night, and knowing Sleeping Beauty wouldn't allow her to ever visit Briar as long as she lived, Faybelle made in impulse decision. 

"I know nothing can stay the same forever. That's just part of growing up. I am not ready to lose the one good thing in my life. I guess I have no choice, though." She moved her girlfriend's head out of her lap and stroked her hair affectionately. "I know this is really weird, but I hope you don't mind me doing this. Goodbye, Briar." 

Faybelle leaned down and pressed her lips to Briar's one last time.


	9. So What Now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the middle of the night, a quick conversation

There was a near-blinding flash of light. Faybelle let out a scream and jumped back. 

Briar gasped and sat up. 

"No..." she muttered. "I was asleep. I... that rose... NO!" She looked around, trying to find who had woken her up. 

"Briar, you're awake!" Faybelle shouted. 

"Faybelle?" Briar turned around and launched herself into the girl's arms. "Thank god you're here! Is anyone else still alive?" 

"What do you..." Faybelle stopped, realizing what must have been going through Briar's head. "You were only asleep for half a day." 

"Only half a day?!" Briar pulled back to look at her girlfriend. "It felt like so much longer. You don't know what it was like in there." 

"In where?" Faybelle asked, though she suspected she already knew the answer. 

"In my head. There was this red room, and it was on fire. The ceiling was caving in all around me. I couldn't move. I thought I saw someone across the room, but when I tried to go to them, I got trapped. It was horrifying. It was worse than my mom described it." Tears were flowing steadily from Briar's eyes now. She buried her face in the crook of Faybelle's neck. 

Faybelle just held Briar closer, wrapping her arms tighter around her. 

"Wait, where's the guy who woke me up?" Briar asked, pulling back again. "He ran as soon as I went to you over him, didn't he?" 

"Actually... I woke you up," Faybelle told her. 

"You did?" Briar looked shocked and relieved at the same time. "So it wasn't some random guy that I don't know?" 

"Nope." Faybelle smiled at her.

"Thank god." The tanned girl slumped forward. 

"Hey, Briar?" 

"Hmm?" 

"I love you." 

Briar looked up at her girlfriend. 

"Did you just say you love me?" she asked 

"Yeah, I-" Faybelle was cut off by Briar smashing their lips together. 

"I love you too," she muttered just loudly enough for the other girl to hear. 

The girls sat together on the forest floor for a good while, contentedly gazing up at the starry sky (what little of it they could see through the trees, anyway).

"Hey, wait, I have an idea," Briar smirked maliciously. "Let me see your phone a second." 

"What are you going to do?" Faybelle asked, reaching in her pocket for her phone. 

"I'm going to text the group chat and get the other girls to meet us in the gymnasium in half an hour. I wanna play a little prank on everyone..." 

In the gym exactly 40 minutes and 8 seconds later, Apple, Cupid, Justine, Ramona, Darling, Duchess, Blondie, Kitty, Poppy, Lizzie, Melody, Rosabella, and Maddie showed up to the gym in a cluster or people. 

"Well you're all here at once," Faybelle remarked. "What took you guys so long?" 

"We had to hide in the janitor's closet," Kitty explained. 

"It was so crowded." Ramona shuddered. 

"What did you need?" Darling asked. "I had to sneak past my entire family to meet you here, so it better be important." 

"Wait, wasn't your mom staying with you and your dad staying with your brothers?" Blondie asked. 

"Briar's parents took over the dorm," Rosabella explained for her. 

"Okay, but why are we here?" Melody pressed. 

"They're here," Faybelle called out. Everyone gasped as Briar walked out from under the bleachers holding up peace signs. 

"I lived bitches!" 

Briar was bombarded with a barrage of bear hugs from the "bitches" she had been blatantly blabbing at before. 

You guys better appreciate that alliteration because I had to really rack my brain to figure that one out. 

Anywhoozle, the big, happy, group hug broke up after a moment. 

"How are you even here right now?!" Apple practically screeched. Briar just pointed at Faybelle. 

"So are you just going to make a habit of kissing sleeping girls, you goddamn creep?" Duchess jabbed at Faybelle, who just stuck her tongue out and gave her the finger. 

"Okay, so, about graduation..." Briar began. "First of all, do I actually get to graduate?" 

"I overheard Grimm say he's forcing your parents to go to graduation but he won't let them onstage to get your diploma," Maddie said. 

"That's actually really fucked up," Poppy commented. 

"He said I had to get your diploma for you because I'm your cousin," Rosabella told Briar. 

"You are coming to graduation now, right?" Lizzie asked. 

"Yep. How far will our choreography work without me?" Briar asked. 

"Until about the first chorus," Justine said. 

"I'm going to hide backstage until then." 

"That would cause so much unnecessary uproar," Apple said. "It's a perfect plan." 

"I'd be shocked if some of the parents weren't literally rioting by the end of this thing anyway," Ramona said. "But causing more chaos is always good." 

"I think you've been hanging out with Maddie too much," Darling muttered. 

"Okay, but as long as we're here, can we go over the checklist one more time?" Blondie asked. "I want to make sure everything is just right for tomorrow." 

"I give my speech at the very end of the ceremony," Apple said. 

"I play the music on the speakers." Melody raised her hand. 

"I'll cue Briar," Faybelle offered. 

"And we've got Farrah sneaking in and helping us out one last time," Justine finished. 

"I think we're going to nail this thing," Poppy said with confidence. 

"And then it'll be off with Grimm's head." Lizzie got a sparkle in her eyes that she only ever got when she was alone her girlfriends or brainstorming various ways to kill their headmaster. 

"Perfect!" Duchess clapped. 

"I vote we all go back to our dorms now so we're not all sleep deprived little shits for once tomorrow," Ramona volunteered. 

"I second that!" Darling agreed. 

"Hang on, I can't go back to my dorm. Faybelle's mom is going to see me," Briar realized.

"Didn't you just sleep for like, 13 hours or something?" Duchess asked. 

"It was 11, and I can't just stand here all night!" Briar said defensively. "Plus, I'm still kind of tired." 

"You could come stay with me and Maddie," Kitty offered. 

"Maddie and I," Apple mumbled. 

"What was that?" 

"It's 'Maddie and I', not 'me and Maddie,'" Apple said louder. 

"Quit being the fucking grammar police!" Kitty snapped. "It is not cute. It is not funny. It is annoying as hell." 

"You little bitch..." 

"Hold on, how would you even have room for me to crash in your dorm for the night?" Briar asked. "And wouldn't your parents, you know, see me?" 

"My mom literally will not give a shit and neither will Maddie's dad," Kitty said. 

"Plus, it's not like we weren't sleeping on the same air mattress anyway," Maddie added. 

"Alright, cool. Thanks." 

And with that, the girls headed off to bed to rest up for the most chaos they had ever caused in their entire lives.


	10. Graduation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get ready, it’s C H A O S time!!

The morning of graduation had finally arrived. The students in the senior class woke up and immediately started getting ready for the ceremony, which started at 11:15. 

If this were the show, we'd probably see a montage right now. Since it's not, why don't y'all imagine the montage from the True Hearts Day episode. Everyone doing their hair and makeup, some slight antics happen, there's a tea party, and there's someone who absolutely doubt their destiny and it shows on their face. 

This time, though, instead of Briar doubting her destiny, picture that person being Duchess. Imagine her paternal grandmother (because her mother and maternal grandmother were both dead and her father is a violent, good-for-nothing deadbeat whose own mother has a restraining order on him) trying to reassure her that it'll be fine, that her eventual drowning will be quick and painless, despite seeing it happen quite painfully to both the woman who could otherwise have become her daughter in law and a dear childhood friend of hers. Picture it because that's what really happened. Duchess wasn't convinced. She wished Poppy would figure out some way to save her from her terrible fate, but she knew it was hopeless. 

Duchess, being both Odette and Odile, had a tendency to sabotage herself whenever she found something good. It was just her nature. Not even her grandmother, the kindest, most caring, selfless, and understanding woman the swan had ever met, could handle her when Odile really came out. Her godsend of a girlfriend had stuck it out thus far, but there was no telling how long that would last. Duchess knew one of her catty, self-destructive moments would send Poppy over the edge someday, and that the other slipper was more likely to drop sooner rather than later. 

Still, a part of the dancer wanted to believe that the girl who had stayed with her through some of her brattiest moments where even she had seen herself as the villain would stand by her and break her curse. At least nobody but Duchess herself could ever drive Poppy away. Duchess wasn't supposed to have a happy ending, but she supposed being both the protagonist and the antagonist of your own story did come with its benefits. 

Outside at the stage, all the relatives of the students had gathered in the audience. It was supposed to be a peaceful event, but as the students walked outside, they found the exact opposite. 

"You want me to 'calm down'?!" Sleeping Beauty shrieked. "My daughter's body has mysteriously disappeared from the spot in the woods where she was wrapped in magical vines, and you want me to calm down?!" 

"Listen, I didn't touch the girl and neither did Faybelle!" the Dark Fairy responded plainly. "And you do need to calm down. This is a high school graduation!" 

"Mommy! You need to calm down, you're being too loud!" One of Briar's little brothers yell-sang. He screamed the "oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh"s, getting more and bore off key with each note. 

"Oh, hush up, Tenacity! Your sister is missing!" Sleeping Beauty snapped. The little boy shut his mouth immediately as he was herded off by his father to join his brothers. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please take your seats!" Headmaster Grimm shouted from the stage. "We're about to begin the ceremony!" 

The arguing mothers sat down, albeit a bit reluctantly. They both wanted to strangle each other, but the Dark Fairy thought her daughter's graduation was more important than murdering her old rival and Sleeping Beauty just didn't want to be kicked out before she could solve the mystery of Briar's disappearance. 

"Thank you. Now, it's been a long few years. A lot has happened since their freshmen year. It almost seems like I've had these students for a whole lifetime. They will forever stand out in my mind as my 'problem class'," Grimm said. "Some of them refused to sign the Storybook of Legends. They held illegal dances and parties that went long after curfew. A few of them turned all of Ever After topsy-turvy and tried to drain it of its wonder. A few students actually went missing in Wonderland for 24 hours. The Evil Queen was released thanks to one student, and another student wasted no time in helping her take over. Students stole Professor Baba Yaga's hut and nearly destroyed it. The world was almost frozen to death. I have found my office blown up numerous times. The whole school was painted various shades of rainbow at one point. I believe I even have students with criminal records. 

"However, that's not to say I won't miss some of the chaos they caused," Grimm continued. "It wasn't all bad, either. They did heal my formerly estranged brother's mind, the curse on Wonderland was healed thanks to their little disappearing act, and they were a brave group of teenagers that I firmly believe will make the world a better place all in all." 

"Oh, spare me your sob story," Darling muttered. "You're a just giant dick who can't get rid of us fast enough. Admit it, you asshole." 

Daring and Dexter gave their sister concerned looks. 

"I would just like to say, I am pleased with how far these resourceful young ladies and gentlemen have come," Giles Grimm interjected. "You have all faced many challenges that no group of students had to face previously, and you always came out on top. More importantly, you learned from your mistakes. You've bettered yourselves over the course of your high school careers to become the people you are today, and for that you should be nothing less than 100% proud." 

"Anyway, without further ado, allow me and my brother to present the students with their diplomas." Grimm began calling names from the graduating class. 

Giles Grimm was the one to hand the students their diplomas, giving them a handshake and a pat on the back as they were sent off to their seats in the audience. Many of the students, namely the girls, were glad it wasn't Milton Grimm. Giles was viewed as a proud uncle by all the students, and that was reflected in the way that, rather than flinching or stiffening as they would have done with Milton, some of their smiled widened at the simple gesture, namely those students who had never had their parents proud of anything they had done. Maddie just straight up hugged him, because of course she did. 

"We will now hear from out valedictorian, Apple White," Grimm said. A round or polite applause from the parents. 

"Hello everyone!" Apple smiled and waved at the crowd as soon as she got back on the stage. "Today, I'd like to talk about the subject of destiny. We all know, of course, what destiny is. It is the motivating factor of nearly every decision made in Ever After. However, as I have come to realize over the course of the past two years, this interpretation of the meaning of destiny is wrong. 

"Destiny does not mean doing exactly what our parents did because we know what our futures will be if we do. I would like to formally apologize for my grave misinterpretation of destiny last year and my attempt to force it onto you all. Most notably, I would like to apologize to Raven Queen, my dear friend, who pushed me to realize exactly what I am about to say." Apple picked Raven out of the crowd and gave her a meaningful look. 

"Destiny is a cosmic force that dictates how our lives will turn out. Destiny cannot be controlled or manipulated. Destiny is inescapable, and many of the problems in stories were caused by someone who tried to escape their fate. But your destiny might not be what you realize. Your destiny isn't your fairytale. Our destinies are why were put onto this earth. Out stories are just that: stories. We choose to repeat history without really learning anything from it. Your destiny might be to go along with it, or your destiny might be to write your own life and make your own choices. 

"I would like to end my speech by saying this: If you truly believe in destiny, you have to trust that it will work out on its own. If you can put that much trust in destiny to allow it to dictate your life, you can direct some of that trust into believing things will happen naturally, without force. My biggest regret from high school was being too narrow-minded to realize this without some huge, life-altering thing needing to happen. Don't make the same mistake I did." 

Apple paused for a moment as the audience applauded. Some of the students, particularly the Rebels, were shocked by her speech. It was a genuine apology for being a destiny-enforcing tyrant throughout most of their Legacy Year. 

"I do have one other part to my speech," Apple said quickly as the applause died down. Her voice got sweeter, but anyone who wasn't an idiot could sense an underlying poison. "A few of us have prepared a little tribute to our dear Headmaster Grimm, so if those of you involved could just come up here with me. I also would like to clarify that this is only from us and is only to Headmaster Grimm. None of the other students have anything to do with it and it is not for Vice Headmaster Giles Grimm." 

In a line going across the stage, from left to right, stood Melody, Justine, Maddie, Lizzie, Kitty, Darling, Apple, Cupid, Blondie, Poppy, Duchess, Rosabella, Ramona, and Faybelle. Little did everyone know, Farrah was back and hiding under the stage, granting her friends one final request. 

Apple stepped out in front of the podium and gave Melody a nod. She hit play on her phone, which was connected to the school's speakers, and set it to the side as music began to play. 

It was a cheery, bouncy piano tune. For about 10 seconds, nobody was fazed. Then they started singing. 

Look inside  
Look inside your tiny mind  
Now look a bit harder  
'Cause we're so uninspired  
So sick and tired of all the hatred you harbor

The 14 girls onstage swayed back and forth for a moment, bouncing as they transferred their weight from foot to foot. Some of them were rotating their arms, switching from having their right arm in front to their left, elbows pointed in a general downward direction.

"What...?" Headmaster Grimm muttered. 

So you say  
It's not okay to be gay  
Well, I think you're just evil  
You're just some racist who can't tie my laces  
Your point of view is medieval

They swung only their hips back and forth for the first lyric of this part, then rested their heads on their closed fists and bopped them back and forth. The girls pointed at Grimm, crossed their right hands over their left before pulling their arms out fully, and did what could only be described as hitting the woah. Most of them leaned back towards the center of the stage. Faybelle gestured to the staircase where they had come onstage. 

"What is the meaning of this?" Grimm shouted, standing up so fast he made himself dizzy. 

Fuck you (fuck you)

Briar danced out onstage, middle fingers raised high to Grimm. There were gasps, both at the crude language, and at the formerly cursed girl who was now very much awake and flipping her headmaster off. 

"Briar!" Sleeping Beauty screeched. 

Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause we hate what you do  
And we hate your whole crew  
So, please don't stay in touch

They split into two almost even groups and wove through each other before returning to their original positions on the stage. 

Grimm tired to go up to the stage to stop them and found himself in a similar position as he was during the play earlier that week. 

From her hiding place under the stage, Farrah giggled. She loved making Grimm look and feel like an idiot, especially in front of alumni who he depended heavily on for money because he was too cheap to give the teachers actual budgets otherwise. It wasn't even like it was difficult, since Grimm did half the work for the fairy godmother in training. 

Fuck you (fuck you)  
Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause your words don't translate  
And it's getting quite late  
So, please don't stay in touch

The girls formed small pyramids of threes. Maddie and Melody made up the base of one while Justine was the top. Kitty teleported so her feet were on Lizzie and Darling's shoulders. Cupid and Apple almost dropped Blondie, as they were probably the worst people to be the base of a pyramid, but managed to recover seamlessly. Poppy and Rosabella were both oddly strong, so they had no similar issues with Duchess. Faybelle flapped her wings to help keep her balance on Ramona and Briar's shoulders. 

The heads of the pyramids bopped their shoulders around, middle fingers raised high to Grimm. 

Do you get  
Do you get a little kick out of being small-minded?  
You want to be like your father  
It's approval you're after  
Well, that's not how you find it

Those on top of the pyramids hopped down one by one, one girl back on the ground with each line. 

Do you  
Do you really enjoy living a life that's so hateful?  
'Cause there's a hole where your soul should be  
You're losing control a bit  
And it's really distasteful

From there, they basically repeated everything they had already done all the way through the final refrain. 

Fuck you (fuck you)  
Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause we hate what you do  
And we hate your whole crew  
So, please don't stay in touch

Fuck you (fuck you)  
Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause your words don't translate  
And it's getting quite late  
So, please don't stay in touch

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you  
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you  
Fuck you

At this point, the assembled into one large pyramid. Darling, Ramona, Melody, Poppy, Briar, Lizzie, and Maddie were at the base of the pyramid. Between them, they held up Blondie, Justine, Duchess, and Rosabella. The girls of the second layer of pyramid held up Kitty, Faybelle, and Cupid, who held Apple on the top. 

Only Apple sang the bridge of the song, and she did so in the most powerful voice she'd ever sung in.

You say  
You think we need to go to war  
Well, you're already in one  
'Cause it's people like you that need to get slew  
No one wants your opinion

From there, they got down and redid their smaller pyramids. By the end of the song, everyone's arms were sore from holding up somebody or another.

Fuck you (fuck you)  
Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause we hate what you do  
And we hate your whole crew

So, please don't stay in touch  
Fuck you (fuck you)  
Fuck you very, very much  
'Cause your words don't translate  
And it's getting quite late  
So, please don't stay in touch

The clock struck noon just as they finished their song. That only ever happens for plot convenience in poorly written fanfiction. Oh wait-

"MOMMY, WHAT DOES FUCK MEAN?" One of Briar's little brothers stood up and screamed. Everyone looked at him incredulously. Even Grimm waited to go onstage and deal with the troublemakers, opting to gape at the small boy instead.

After a moment though, he did get onstage. And the first thing he did was ask the girls for their diplomas back. 

"Brother, if I may-" Giles Grimm tried. 

"No, you may not!" Milton slapped Giles across the face, prompting everyone witnessing the incident to visibly cringe. Baba Yaga rushed to see if he was okay. Grimm turned back to the girls who had just verbally flipped him off in song form. "Diplomas. Now." 

"You can't do that!" Red Riding Hood protested. "They'be already graduated. You can't just revoke their diplomas at the last second like that!"

"Red, sit down! You don't even have a child up there to deal with!" Grimm snapped. 

"Actually..." Cerise ran up to the stage at full speed, evoking a gasp from just about everyone. "She does have a kid up here." Cerise ripped off her hood and chucked it off the stage. "FINALLY FREE OF THAT STUPID THING!!" 

Everyone gasped again, louder this time when they saw her ears. She put her hair in a ponytail specifically to draw attention to them. 

"We try to get one kid her diploma back," Mr Badwolf muttered, "and the other one goes and does something that could cause her to lose hers." 

"OH COME ON! YOU SAID GRADUATION!" Cerise screamed, throwing her hands up. 

"Yeah, you said, and I quote, 'We must keep our family a secret until graduation!'" Ramona did a bad impression of Mr Badwolf. 

"Yeah, what she said! Look around! What does this look like?" The formerly hood-wearing girl gestured around the stage. 

"Milton, this has gone on long enough," Baba Yaga said. 

"I agree," Grimm said. "Now, let's-"

"No. You shut up, for once in your miserably life," Baba Yaga cut him off. "These students have been through hell going to a school where you're in charge and have unchecked, practically unlimited power over them. I've stood by, but I can do that no longer. You are going to allow every single student here to keep their diplomas, we are all going in the cafeteria and we're going to pretend we're having a good time partying, do you hear me?" With each word, she got closer to his face. 

"...they will be allowed to keep their diplomas and we're going to the party now," Grimm muttered, swear dripping off his brow. 

"FUCK YEAH! WE'RE FINALLY FREE OF THIS PLACE!" Darling screamed.


	11. Happily Ever After?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The after effects of the chaos and the end of the line for this story... for now

"I can't believe it," Daring muttered from a corner, watching the chaotic gays. "I just can't believe it." 

"What's going on?" Cerise walked you to him with a cup of punch in each hand. She handed him one. 

"Every single girl I've dated has left me for another girl!" Daring pouted. "First, my sister steals, not only my destiny, but Apple. Next, Lizzie goes on one date with me and gets two girlfriends. Then, I go out with Duchess, and look at her and Poppy now, they literally won't let go of each other. And to top it all off, Rosabella broke up with me to go date your sister!" 

"Why did you go out with Duchess?" Cerise wrinkled her nose in disgust, though she didn't exactly mean it. "It's just... Duchess, of all people?" 

"I was desperate. I think I regret dating her the most." 

"Who do you regret dating the least?" The half wolf tilted her head curiously. 

"You," Daring answered without hesitation. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. 

"Not what I was going for, but I'll take it." Cerise out her head on Daring's shoulder giggling uncharacteristically. 

"How are you kids doing over here?" Mr Badwolf, in his wolf form, shoved between them, putting one of his paws on Cerise's back and the other one on Daring's shoulder, gripping the boy warningly. 

"Dad!" Cerise protested. "Come on!" 

"Relax, you're not the only one being separated by a parent." Mr Badwolf gestured to the other side of the room where Red Riding Hood was standing with her arms across both Ramona and Rosabella's shoulders, jabbering away a mile a minute. Rosabella was carrying out a conversation with her simultaneously while trying to get the woman's arm off her shoulders. Ramona had her arms crossed and her head tipped toward the ceiling in annoyance. 

"So, what are you guys talking about?" Badwolf asked. 

"Just how Daring has never gone out with a straight girl in his life." 

"What do you mean 'in my life'?" Daring looked over at Cerise. "You're not breaking up with me for a girl, are you?" 

"No, but... I'm not exactly straight either." Cerise reached up like she wanted to hide in her hood, then remembered it was on the bleachers. "I'm bi." 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Daring asked as softly as he could, taking a step toward her and putting his hand on her arm.

"This is the first time I'm telling anyone." She looked down at the ground, suddenly shy. "You don't care, do you? You're not going to, like, break up with me?"

"Of course not!" Daring said. "Why would I just because you also like girls? As long as you still like me like that, I have no plans to break up with you." 

"Just making sure." Cerise leaned over to kiss his cheek. Instead, she got a paw. 

"Leave room for a basket," Badwolf said sternly. "Also, congratulations on figuring yourself out. I'm proud of you." 

"So how did you figure it out?" Daring asked. 

"I may have kissed Cedar last year..." Cerise smirked at the ground. "She wanted to know what it's like to be kissed. She didn't feel anything, obviously, but I did. I had a crush on her for the next two months, which was awkward, because we were roommates." 

"Huh. I would not have thought you would ever kiss Cedar." Daring plopped his arm over Cerise's shoulders instinctively, forgetting that her big, scary father was right there. "Is my gaydar really that bad?" 

"Yes, it very much is if you ever thought Lizzie was straight." She laid her head on his shoulder again. "Dummy." 

"I give up!" Badwolf threw his paws in the air. "You two always have to be touching each other, for whatever reason. Just stay in this room, got it? Or else." He gave Daring a death glare. The mirror-crazed teen gulped and nodded nervously. 

"Okay Dad, stop scaring my boyfriend now!" Cerise exclaimed.

"Not a chance. I have however long you two have been together of threatening him to catch up on." Badwolf walked away to go bother Ramona, who looked about ready to strangle her mother. After a moment, she grabbed Rosabella's hand and dragged her off to wherever, ignoring her father and his "Leave room for a basket!" shouts. 

"Don't worry, he won't actually do anything to you," Cerise reassured Daring. 

Across the room, things weren't going so well for Justine. 

"You're gay?" her mother shrieked. 

"No... not gay... bi," Justine got quieter with every word, looking down at her feet, knowing a blow up was coming. Her father, who was usually her saving grace in these situations, was nowhere to be seen. 

"What the hell does that mean?" The Twelfth Dancing Princess looked like she was going to go ballistic and trash the place any second, 

"It means I like both girls and guys," Justine muttered. "And also enbies, but it's mostly girls and guys." 

"You can't do that. It has to be guys only. I will not allow my daughter to become a degenerate," her mother said with an air of finality. 

Except that wasn't final. Justine wasn't taking her mother's shit anymore. 

"I'm sorry my love life is more interesting than yours ever was," she said, "because you got pregnant in high school and were forced to get married. But that's just one of the perks to having a girlfriend, is that I can't make the same mistakes as you. I actually get to know what love feels like. And you want to know what's sad? Is that I don't even have anything to go by for that besides my girlfriend. Most people at least know what it feels like to be loved before they enter their first relationship, because they've been loved before, but I had to figure that out for myself. Because you don't love me. You never did. You only kept me around for your stupid reputation. Dad 'loves' me out of obligation. Just like how he 'loves' you." 

"You ungrateful little bitch." The Twelfth Dancing Princess slapped her youngest daughter across the face. "You have ten seconds to apologize." She rapped her foot expectantly. 

"Go to hell," Justine spat. 

"You're out of the house." Her mother walked away. Justine was shocked at being kicked out, but she was stubborn and refused to look away from their woman who unfortunately gave her life until she had left the party entirely. 

As soon as she was sure the Karen who birthed her was gone, Justine dropped to the floor, tears streaming down her face.

A moment later, Melody was wandering around, looking for Justine. She saw her on the floor and immediately dropped to her knees next to the dancer, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. 

"What happened?" She asked. Justine buried her face in the crook of Melody's neck. 

"My mom kicked me out," she sobbed. "I have nowhere to go now, and I can't even appeal to my dad to let me back in the house because he's scared of my mom and he doesn't care enough about me to stand up to her." 

"Oh my god..." Melody held the other girl tighter. "Are you okay?" 

"She slapped me." Justine pulled back to look Melody in the eyes. She was shaking. "She slapped her own daughter." 

"Can you stay here for a second?" Melody pressed a kiss to Justine's forehead. "I'm getting my dad." 

"What! Why?" Justine kind of had a freak out moment, thinking that Melody's dad was going to make things worse. 

"Because you can't sit on the floor of the school wondering where you're going to go forever." Before her girlfriend could answer, Melody got up and walked off. She came back a minute and a half later with the Pied Piper in tow. 

"Alright, now what happened?" He squatted so he was down at almost eye level with Justine. "That's quote a mark on your face." 

"My mom just kicked me out..." Justine couldn't meet his eyes. 

"She kicked her own daughter out?" The Pied Piper asked incredulously. "Why?" 

"I..." Justine looked at the ground. "Just forget it. I'm fine." 

"Her mom's a homophobic piece of shit, that's why," Melody piped (heh, PIPED) up. 

"Your mother is the worst kind of person. If you need somewhere to go, you can stay with us," Mr Piper offered.

"Thank you," Justine muttered. 

"Come on, why don't you get off the sticky cafeteria floor now?" Melody offered Justine her hand and pulled her up. She put her hand on the lower back to keep them both from falling over. She then kissed her girlfriend's cheek. 

In another part of the gym, Briar and Faybelle we're trying to explain the whole curse situation to Sleeping Beauty. 

"So, walk me through this," she was saying. "You two were in the woods because..." 

"I was trying to tell Briar that I wasn't going to curse her," Faybelle explained. 

"And then..." Sleeping Beauty prompted. 

"I saw the rose and kind of got pulled into this trance," Briar said. "Neither of us know how it got there." 

"Actually, I do know." The fairy looked at her girlfriend. "My mom told me last night that she set it up. I may have yelled at her for it and ran away after I found out." 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Briar asked. 

"We were so focused on graduation, it never crossed my mind to tell you. Sorry." 

"Listen, I don't care how the rose got there, although next time I see the Dark Fairy, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. Briar was cursed. Why is she awake?" Sleeping Beauty was getting annoyed. Though she was incredibly grateful and overjoyed to have her daughter back (she had nearly broken Briar's ribs hugging her and there were a lot of tears), she wanted to know what had happened that fate had decided to release the girl from her enchanted sleep. 

"I... I snuck out to Briar's body last night and kissed her." Faybelle looked at the ground, wanting to fly away from the whole conversation. For once in her life, she was the opposite of her normal outgoing self. 

"And why... why would you do that?" A confused look crossed Briar's mom's face. 

"She did it because..." Briar took a deep breath and grabbed Faybelle's hand. "We're dating." 

"...what?" It wasn't a harsh question, more of a 'what the hell is happening right now/what has my life become?' 

"Mom, I know you're not going to like this, but Faybelle and I have been dating since last year." Briar wanted to add in how, in an incident of backfired magic, she had met their daughter from the future, but she bit her tongue, figuring her mother wouldn't like that particular bit of information. 

"You're right I don't like it!" Sleeping Beauty looked at her daughter. "You know who her mother is, right?" 

"Listen, ma'am..." Faybelle internally cringed. Ma'am? Why the fuck did she care so much about being polite to Briar's mom? She was in deeper than she had realized.

"No. Just..." Sleeping Beauty sighed. "I can see I have no control over Briar anymore. Do you love her?" 

"-What?" Faybelle asked. The question caught her off guard. 

"I don't want my daughter wasting her time on someone who doesn't care about her, destiny or not. Do you love her?" 

"Yes." Faybelle said without hesitation. 

"Fay, you don't have to answer her bajillion mom questions," Briar tried to say. 

"If that's what it takes for her to not hate me, then yes I do." Faybelle squeezed the darker haired girl's hand. "Besides, that was one question." 

Sleeping Beauty sighed again. "I can interrogate your girlfriend later. Go have fun," she said. 

"Really?" Briar was shocked. She didn't think her mother would accept her relationship with her villain so quickly. 

"Run along before I change my mind and ask my 'bajillion mom questions' now." 

Briar and Faybelle didn't really question it. They ran off to dance, hand in hand. 

Apple was questioning everything. 

She had wanted to introduce Darling to her mom. Her mother and her grandfather were standing together discussing the graduation. Raven decided to introduce Dexter to her father. It was at that moment that everyone realized how awkward their situation was. 

"You know..." Dexter ventured, "this is borderline incest..." 

"Nope! Nope, no, fuck no, no way in hell, non, not in this life, n to the fucking o, NO, absolutely not, we are not going there!" Apple smiled cheerfully. 

"Yeah, I'm with Apple on this one," Raven said. "There's no blood relations here, so this is only as awkward as you make it. And you're making things pretty awkward by calling it incest, Dex." 

"But-" 

"Dude." Darling gave her brother a look. "Just drop it." 

"Wait a second, let me get this straight," Snow White said. She pointed to Apple. "You're dating your half aunt's boyfriend's twin sister?" 

"Yeah... that's awkward." The Good King turned to Dexter. "Anyway, it's nice to finally meet you, Dexter. Raven's told me a lot about you." 

"I just want to make one thing clear," Snow White said to Darling. "I'm not a violent person, but if you hurt Apple, I will hurt you." 

"Mom-" Apple started to protest. 

"If I hurt Apple, I will find a way to run myself through with my own sword," Darling assured Snow. 

"Babe, no..." Apple gave her girlfriend a concerned look.

"Is she okay?" Snow White whispered to her daughter. 

"Not in the least little bit," Apple whispered back. 

"Ah." Snow modded uncomfortably. "Oh, by the way Apple, you're grounded for the stunt you pulled at graduation." 

"What?!" 

The Wonderlandians (not including Alistair and Bunny, those two had snuck off to god-only-knows-where, you can imagine why) were having better luck with their parents. 

Namely, Kitty. 

All she have ever wanted was for her mom to be proud of her. Now, that was all she could hear. 

"The chaos in that song!" The Cheshire Cat was saying. "I wouldn't have expected it from that whole group, but I must say, it was great!" 

"Really?" Kitty asked. 

"You know, I don't say this enough, but I'm proud of you, Kitty." 

"You- you are?" Kitty looked like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her mother was right, she really didn't say it enough. 

"Of course!" The Cheshire Cat have her trademark smile. She leaned down. "Not only for that, but also, you managed to get both the future queen of Wonderland and the next Mad Hatter to date you? Impressive." 

"Mom..." Kitty's voice had a warning tone to it.

"Alright, alright, fine. But really, I'm proud of you for that incident an hour ago." The Cheshire Cat pulled her daughter into a hug. 

Blondie was being thoroughly embarrassed by her mother in another spot in the gym. 

"So tell me, how did my daughter get a goddess to date her?" Goldilocks asked Cupid. 

"Mooom!" Blondie groaned. 

Yeesh, wow, everyone's moms are being really embarrassing, huh? Yeah. This is no coincidence. The author just sucks at coming up with original stuff but she also wants to give you guys a little snippet of all the ships you've been so invested in (or maybe not because they've never been brought up some of them???) this whole book. 

Anyway. 

"Actually... I'm not a goddess? Technically?" Cupid didn't look sure herself. "I think I'm a demigoddess. Or a monster? Wow, it has just occurred to me that I don't even know myself!" 

"A... monster?" Goldilocks looked like she wanted to grab Blondie and run. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Well, I did go to a school of monsters for a while," Cupid said. "There were zombies, vampires, and werewolves who went there, there was a yeti, there was a mummy- Pretty much, name any monster, and they probably went to that school. The headmistress could take her own head off!" 

"Oh." Goldilocks walked away awkwardly. Blondie rolled her eyes and pulled Cupid onto the dance floor. 

Hold on, wait a second... you didn't think Farrah was still under the stage, did you? She wasn't. She was in a corner of the gym with Ashlynn, Hunter, and Sparrow. The other three were hiding from their parents, who were already disappointed in them for not wanting to follow their destinies. Farrah herself was hiding from Headmaster Grimm, who had banned her from the school when she was expelled.

Over the past few months, the four of them hanging out (both outside of school and in, the few times Farrah had snuck back in to see Ashlynn) had become a common occurrence, especially since Hunter and Ashlynn had gotten back together (that conversation was more awkward that it had to be, especially considering how quickly Sparrow and Farrah had both agreed to a poly relationship). 

They had all become an odd group of friends, especially because you would never think someone like Farrah would ever associate herself with someone like Sparrow. 

Anyway, the four sat in the corner of the gym, under the bleachers, talking and laughing. They all knew they'd have to face their parents eventually (when that moment did come, explaining the relationship dynamic between them would be awkward) but for now, just for a moment, things were good, and they wanted to hold onto that for as long as possible. 

They weren't the only ones, either. 

Poppy and Duchess were determined not to let go of each other until sunrise the next day, when the swan's curse would finally set in. Their arms were around each others' waists, keeping them as close as possible to each other without one of them physically picking the other up and carrying her around. 

There was a tense air around them. They both knew what would happen the next morning. Poppy's mind was reeling, desperately trying to come up with a solution to prevent her girlfriend from dying or staying a swan permanently. 

She knew the two ways to break the curse: A public declaration of love in front of the whole world, which scared her a little (she knew it would take her a few months at least to work up the courage for that, plus, then there was the small issue of having to have literally the entire world watching at once) or marriage, but they had literally just graduated high school and both were far too young for that. 

It was a tricky situation. Poppy was scared of losing Duchess forever, and Duchess was terrified of losing her life. For now, though, they were content in each other's arms, forgetting for just a little while the grim reality of their relationship and the future. 

So, there you have it, my friends. It's a bittersweet ending, but then again, truly happy endings aren't real anyway. There always has to be some darkness in the light, some bad in the good times, some sadness in the happy moments. We may not like it, but this balance is what gives life meaning. Without it, life would get boring quickly. However, that doesn't mean the story is fully over...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!!!!!  
> ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜


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